When Neji met Tenten
by Shadeehue
Summary: Konoha Girls Grammar School is merged with their brother school. How to deal with members of the opposite sex and love? Yes, it's another AU highschool fic. Inspired by EshtarWind's gorgeous artwork. nejiten & more pairings...
1. First Impressions

**I am a sucker for highschool fics, even though they tend to be overdone. Hehe this is going to be my own spin on it. This was inspired by EshtarWind's gorgeous artwork submitted for the FOIL competition in the LJ Nejiten community. This fic is based on the First theme. Eshtar, this is for you **

**Like I said, I'm trying to work more on my character development and writing style so I hope you like it/find some kind of improvement, so please review  
**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto nor the artwork... maybe only in my dreams**

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Neji was fairly cynical for one as young as he was. He didn't believe in happy endings or love the way his cousin Hinata did. It wasn't that he hated life and the world, he had just come to terms that life often dealt him a bad hand it and it was pointless to get his hopes up thinking that it will take a turn for the better. Better to prepare for the worst and be pleasantly surprised instead. He wasn't a dreamer like his cousin or impulsive like his friend Lee, in fact he was probably the most boring person he knew. Neji liked structure and predictability. Love was much too volatile for him so he was completely unprepared for it when he finally fell. And he fell hard. 

**First Impressions**

The first time he saw her, it felt like time had paused for the longest moment. The light from the sunset behind her gave her an unearthly glow as she sat serenely reading a novel at the bus stop in a green and brown dress. She reminded him one of those wood elves straight out of a fairytale. He stared at her from across the street, mesmerized by her bare feet swinging gently and the thick, long, luscious waves of dark brown hair that tumbled down her shoulders and framed her face. The bus stopped beside her, obscuring his view for a minute but when it pulled away from the curb, she had vanished.

* * *

The second time he saw her was a few days later when he caught the early bus home from school. Luckily he was able to grab one of the back seats as the bus was packed with students and their school bags. It was also stinking hot and he had folded his sleeves up and unbuttoned the top of his uniform as a matter of self-preservation. He didn't usually catch the early bus as he often had basketball or athletics training after school. But he still hated catching the early bus with a passion, it was too loud and noisy and students from his school's sister school would often try to chat him up despite his obvious disinterest. He was always listening to his ipod now, or pretending to at least, as it gave him an excuse to ignore them. 

The bus stopped at the Konoha Girls Grammar School, the sister school that his cousin Hinata attended, and every available seat was taken by the time _she_ climbed onto the bus. So, she was human after all. Her hair was pulled into two messy buns which had become even messier at the end of the school day. Her white school shirt had also started becoming untucked from her navy skirt and one sock needed to be pulled up.

"Move down to the back you lot!" hollered the grumpy bus driver.

She gracefully picked her way through the bag-littered aisle until she was standing in front of him. Ignoring all the sniggering Konoha Boys Grammar School students around her, she turned to the front and gazed out the window steadily. She was of an average height and waif-like. He noticed she also had a rather large, fading bruise on her knee. He knew he was staring but he couldn't help it. Soon he found himself completely fascinated by her delicate rosebud mouth and long sooty eyelashes that framed large dark liquid doe eyes.

After a few stops, the bus was beginning to empty and she was able to find a seat to herself further towards the front. She slouched in the seat and was staring out the window when he walked past her when the bus reached his stop. He was disappointed that her bus stop was after his, if it had been before, he would have at least had a vague idea of where she lived. Seeing as it was the last day of the school year, it was highly unlikely he would see her again over the long summer break.

Neji never really knew why he had she had made such an impression on him in the first place. He just found her fascinating, she reminded him of a lost faerie creature who now wandered this world. But ever since that week, he had always kept a hopeful eye out for her hoping to catch a glimpse, all he wanted now was a name…

* * *

It was her first day of at the new school. Her old school had recently been combined with its brother school due to rapidly dwindling numbers of pupils enrolled and a lack of funding. She wished her parents had enrolled her in Suna Girls Grammar School instead, where all her other friends had gone. It wasn't that she had a hard time making new friends, she already knew some people from dance school who attended Konoha Grammar, but it was just so inconvenient trying to form friendships with people this late in highschool since all the groups were already formed and no one really cared about the new kid. When she had gone to the orientation for the new female students yesterday, the principal, Tsunade, had causally informed her that she was the one and only female in her year. Literally. Tenten had wanted to scream with frustration right then and there but managed to control herself. She was already getting pitying looks from the younger girls she did dancing with; Hinata, Ino and Sakura, who at least had each other in the grade below her. 

The new school was much bigger than her old one and she was having trouble finding her classes. Building the school like a maze didn't exactly help her situation either. She was going to be late if she didn't find her first class soon after having taken far too long to find her locker. Tenten was juggling her books whilst trying to walk and take a map of the school out of her bag at the same time when she was unceremoniously knocked over, causing her to gasp and drop her books everywhere. Her first day could not possibly get any worse! It took most of her self control not to swear out loud at the clumsy oath whose fault it was. She and the boy who knocked her over both reached for the same book and their hands brushed each other. Jumping at the unexpected body contact, Tenten looked up at the boy who had knocked her over properly for the first time.

He was hot.

"I'm sorry," the long dark haired boy murmured in a deep baritone.

She could feel heat rising to her cheeks and feeling suddenly embarrassed she broke away from his piercing, pale lavender gaze and quickly picked up the rest of her books on the floor. What a way to start her first day at the new school.

"I'm Neji," he added hastily.

She gave him a small smile, not entirely sure of how to act around a male around her age. She had been at an all-girls school for far too long. "I'm Tenten and I'm late for class," she replied before standing quickly and walking away from him. She almost turned to look back but stopped herself; it would just look like she was desperate for any male contact like most students from all-girls schools who didn't turn lesbian before graduation, and she was certainly not one of _those_ girls. Mentally shaking herself, she made her way through the crowd of students to her first class, Drama.

It had been an innocent enough incident but it was just one of those incidents where you really noticed a stranger. It was difficult to forget the way his eyes seemed to bore into the depths of her soul either but Tenten dismissed it quickly; she probably wouldn't see him around the school much anyway since it was so large.

* * *

The first time he actually met her, it was the first day of the new school year. It was much more crowded with students than usual since both the Konoha Girls Grammar School and the Konoha Boys Grammar School had recently been combined together. Most of the girls originally from Konoha Girls Grammar had been enrolled in Suna Girls Grammar School, another all-girls highschool, but a small number had been enrolled in the now defunct brother school. His cousin Hinata and a few of her friends were amongst these few girls, who were now garnering a great deal of attention from male students who were clueless as to how to react to the presence of females amongst them, having been raised in an all-male environment for so long. 

"Show us your tits!" yelled out a scruffy looking blonde boy to a skinny pink haired girl whose back stiffened in response. Neji recognised her as Sakura Haruno, one of Hinata's friends. He thought it ironic that Naruto had asked her such a question, considering that she didn't have any.

He found his locker and glanced at the code briefly before unlocking it and dumping the majority of his books in it. The bell rung and he spun around sharply to set off to his Economics class; Ebisu was quite strict, especially at the beginning of the year. It had something to do with laying down his authority so that the students would be easier to handle for the rest of the year. A girl gasped as he knocked her over, causing her to drop all her books.

He growled irritably under his breath before kneeling down to pick up her textbooks. His hand brushed hers as they both reached for the same book. Both jumped and looked at each other properly for the first time. It was her, the girl who had occupied his thoughts for the entire summer after he saw her on the bus. He could have sworn that time paused once more as his eyes locked onto her bottomless dark brown eyes. "I'm sorry," he finally murmured quietly. She blushed faintly and quickly gathered up her books and stood quickly. "I'm Neji," he said abruptly, not being able to think of anything particularly witty to say to impress her.

She gave him a small smile, "I'm Tenten and I'm late for class."

Neji watched her walk quickly away from him into the jostling crowd of students with an unfamiliar tight feeling curling in his stomach. He didn't really want to think about what that feeling could possibly be, but meeting her once more was fate, he decided.

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**A/N: Here is the link to the artwork that inspired this story for you to copy and paste into your browser, I've also put the link up on my profile. http://community. **

**I have not abandoned my other fic don't worry, I'm just being slack and this has been sitting on my comp for a while so I thought I'd just put it up in the meantime. Thanks for reading D **


	2. Getting to Know You

**A/n: **Ok I had been overseas for and only got back recently so I am really sorry I took forever to update this but just wanted to let you all know that I did have a good excuse: I didn't have much computer access while I was overseas. I looked back at my 1st chapter and was pretty horrified at the number of grammatical errors in there and I am very sorry for that. I'll try to minimise it from now on.

Moving on... The first chapter was inspired by EshtarWind's awesome artwork but the rest of my story won't be following the rest of her artwork. It doesn't fit with the direction I want to take my story in. Nothing much happens in this chapter and I'm really sorry if it's not up to the same standard as the first chapter. You see, I like to lower expectations so that you might be pleasantly surprised when you read the chapter if it's actually not too horrible, and if it is pretty horrible you don't get overly disappointed because you were expecting it to be crappy anyway.

Shikamaru is actually quite sexist in this so be warned.

**Disclaimer: I do not own any part of the whole Naruto franchise whatsoever**

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**Getting to know you **

The bus pulled up and a sea of students began jostling for a position in the queue. It was a warm afternoon and she wasn't in the best of moods considering her quad muscles were about to kill her after an excruciating dance training session yesterday with Anko. She had been moving like an old woman all day long. She could only hope that she got a seat on the bus today. Tenten pushed back when one of the younger boys pushed past her. A hand grabbed the boy's shoulder and she heard a deep voice growl, "No pushing in." She turned to see that it was Neji, Lee's friend, the boy who knocked her over on her first day.

The bus driver finally opened the bus doors and students began swarming onto the bus. Neji, who had been about to get onto the bus before her, paused and indicated for her to go first. Tenten smiled widely at him in return, "Thank you." Guys her age rarely acted like gentlemen, it was sweet and unexpected. She wouldn't have expected it from him though since he was always glaring at everyone, but at the same time he did seem the old fashioned type. He had seemed friendly the first day she met him but after that he had barely given her a glance. She wondered what caused the sudden change. It would have been nice if he had singled her out for special treatment. A girl could always dream though.

* * *

Glaring at the younger boys who had no manners these days as they pushed and shoved their way through the bus queue, he grabbed a dark haired boy's shoulder and growled menacingly at him, "No pushing in." The younger boy turned to him with an alarmed expression and obediently moved to the back of the line. Winning schoolyard fights did have their advantages after all. The bus doors hissed open and all the students began making their way onto the bus. A movement out of the corner of his eye caught his attention and he realised that Tenten had been standing next to him in the line all along. Neji almost froze but managed to pull himself together before anyone else noticed. He motioned for her to climb onto the bus before him and she gave him a dazzling smile before thanking him sweetly. If he had been a girl, he probably would have swooned. 

It had turned out that she was in all his classes except for Economics. He later found out from Lee that she did Drama instead. The bus ride seemed to pass by faster than usual. Neji waved at the bus driver in silent thanks before hopping off the bus. He began the walk home from the bus stop with Hinata in silence. The bus rumbled past and he saw Hinata waving back at Tenten who quickly became a speck in the distance. "I didn't know you knew her," he said nonchalantly. Neji pushed his hands into his pocket, careful not to show too much interest. He didn't particularly want Hinata gossiping about which girls he seemed to be interested in with her friends Ino and Sakura.

"We do dancing together," explained Hinata. She handed him an envelope Sakura had given her at school. They had been poring over its contents on the bus. The envelope was thick and stiff with a small stack of photos inside. "I think Tenten's in some of the dance school concert photos. She's such an amazing dancer."

Neji took the stack of photos wordlessly and flipped through them casually. There were a lot of photos of Hinata, Sakura and Ino, seeing as they seemed to do everything together but when he reached the dance school photos he slowed down slightly. Lee was in some of them as well, wearing a skin tight green bodysuit. He grimaced slightly; Lee seemed to have no sense of fashion awareness whatsoever, or shame for that matter. The next photo was a group photo of all the girls, all wearing the same green and brown dress she had been wearing the very first time he saw her. She must have been on her way home after rehearsals that day. In the past he had always refused to go to Hinata and Hanabi's dance school concerts, preferring to stay home instead. He decided that maybe, he would attend their next concert.

Neji continued to flick through the photos before finally handing them back to his cousin who had been dreamily looking at the clouds and flowers in the neighbours' gardens. She had started daydreaming a lot ever since she started attending his school. Neji had a sneaking suspicion that she had a crush on one of his friends but he wasn't sure which friend it was yet.

* * *

Chemistry and Biology classes were torture for him. They were the only classes where everyone was expected to work with the same group of twos or threes for the rest of the year. In every other class, everyone was seated in rows and worked individually. For Chemistry and Biology, they sat at benches in the labs. Lee, as usual insisted on working with his 'rival' and made sure that Neji was in his group. Lee, also being the only person that Tenten knew on the first day from their grade, from dancing, meant that Tenten was in their group as well. 

After a few weeks of denial, Neji had finally admitted to himself that he did fancy her. Ok maybe it was a slightly major crush. So working closely with her in two of his classes should have been a major windfall right? It wasn't, he was at a complete loss at what to say to her. He couldn't exactly tell her that he had obsessed over her from the very first moment he saw her without sounding like a stalker, especially when it was a moment she certainly did not remember. He wasn't keen on asking her out or telling her his feelings for her either, he didn't think he could handle rejection. So Neji did what he did best when it came to girls, he ignored her completely.

* * *

She had a feeling that Lee's best-friend-but-also-greatest-rival Neji disliked her immensely. He barely spoke a word to her. When she voiced her thoughts to Lee, he-who-could-never-think-anything-bad-of-another-person denied it vigorously saying that Neji was like that with everyone. He was just 'shy'. 'Shy' wasn't really how she would describe him, more like antisocial. 

She had Chemistry that morning and Lee was away because he was competing in the Interschool Finals for Athletics. Tenten wasn't too pleased about that, it meant that she would have to work alone with Neji. Whenever she tried to strike up a conversation with him he just answered her with a 'Hn'. It was like trying to talk to a brick wall. Although, it was a drop dead gorgeous brick wall… She chewed on her pen thoughtfully as she read over the titration problem they had been given to solve, willing it to solve itself.

Neji had already finished it and was flicking through the textbook, looking bored. If he was a girl, she would have hated him for being so perfect and good at everything. He was a genius when it came to maths and science, good at sports and he was hot. If she had less self-respect and was boy-crazy, she would have been throwing herself at his feet begging him to father her children the way Sakura and Ino did to Sasuke. Well those two weren't actually that bad but you get the point. It was unfair though, how could anyone be so genetically blessed?

"Neji, could you help me with the titration problem? I don't really get it," she finally asked him, giving him a sheepish smile. He turned towards her wordlessly and pushed his own working towards her.

"What don't you understand?"

He had a nice voice, it was low and soothing. Tenten leant closer to him to have a better look at his working. He had terrible handwriting but on the other hand he smelt quite nice…Stupid pheromones. He'd started explaining how to do the question so she quickly forced herself to concentrate. It sounded so easy the way he explained it. "Thanks," she said after he finally finished, giving him a grateful smile. He nodded at her and went back to the textbook to start working on some extra chemistry problems.

* * *

She smelt so good this morning; he had caught a whiff of her shampoo when she had leant closer to him to look at his working. He thought he would nearly pass out from being in such close proximity to her. Today was probably the one opportunity he had to talk to her since Lee wasn't sitting in between them for once. But as usual, he had been too terrified to take it. Sometimes he wished he could just talk to people as easily as Lee could. He continued to sneak glances at her when she wasn't looking. She was absorbed in working on the titration problem, spinning her pen idly. She was one of those girls where the more he looked at her, the prettier he found her. "It's really quiet without Lee around isn't it?" she whispered to him suddenly and smiled disarmingly at him. 

"Lee talks too much," he replied with a small wry smile.

She giggled quietly, and went back to her chemistry problems. It was a nice giggle, it was soft and it didn't grate on his nerves unlike some other girls'. Neji tried to focus on his work, he had already ended up reading the same line twenty times. He half hoped that she would ask him for help again but she didn't. They both worked in silence for the rest of the class but it didn't feel so awkward anymore. It was progress at least.

* * *

He had nodded at her at lunch when she caught his eye as she made her way to the table Sakura, Hinata and Ino were sitting at. That was a surprise, he usually didn't acknowledge her presence outside of class when he couldn't avoid it without seeming like a rude jerk. Tenten smiled and waved back at him before dumping her school bag under the table and greeting the other girls. 

"Did you just wave at Neji?" asked Ino curiously. The blonde girl had been watching their exchange the entire time.

Tenten unwrapped her sandwich, "Yeah, is there something wrong with that?" She took a bite of her sandwich and pulled a face. The cafeteria ladies had put beetroot in it.

"No, no problem at all," Ino replied quickly as she continued to watch Tenten with interest. "It's just that he doesn't talk to girls at all besides the ones he's related to."

Tenten removed the evil pink beetroot from her sandwich and shrugged. "He doesn't talk to me much."

"Don't take it personally," said Hinata apologetically with a slight blush. "He's just shy around people he doesn't know well."

"Yeah Neji is notorious for hating girls," added Sakura cheerfully as she stabbed her lasagne and examined it carefully.

"So do you like Neji?" asked Ino, ever the busybody.

Tenten, who had been in the middle of chewing, swallowed and laughed. "What kind of a question is that? Just because I talk to somebody doesn't mean I am madly in love with them. And no, I barely know him so how can I like him?" She shook her head and took another bite from her sandwich. All three of the younger girls stared at her intently. She paused and raised an eyebrow at them, "What?"

"So you don't even think that he's cute?" asked Ino.

"Ino!" Hinata scolded her blonde friend gently.

* * *

"Hyuuga, the girls keep looking at you," Sasuke warned. 

Neji looked up from his task of removing the disgusting piece of beetroot from the sandwich he had bought from the cafeteria. "So? What do I care?"

"You nodded at one of them," accused the Uchiha.

"Which one? Is she hot? Do you like her?" rattled off Naruto whilst he was in mid-slurp.

"The one with the buns, as in the hairstyle," Sasuke answered.

"Oh yeah that one is pretty hot."

Neji glared at the loud, hyperactive blonde. The younger boy had ramen everyday and it seemed that it was finally going to his brain. "We have class together, she's in my science prac group and that's all," he replied coolly.

Shikamaru who had seemed to be sleeping, with his head on the desk, opened a half lidded eye. "Women are troublesome."

"You tell us that all the time," pointed out Sasuke irritably.

The lazy boy finally woke up and stretched languidly, "Girls, especially from all-girls schools, automatically think any attention from a male means that that male is in love with them. They're just wired that way. It's not possible for boys to be merely friends with girls."

"That's not true," protested Naruto. "I'm friends with Hinata!"

Neji shot him a dangerous glare. He was going to have to do something about it soon. The blonde continued slurping at his ramen, unaware of the death stare he was receiving.

Sasuke snorted, "You're an idiot Naruto."

"Hey shut up you bastard."

Shikamaru rolled his eyes at the exchange between Naruto and Sasuke before motioning to Neji. "Piece of advice Hyuuga, girls are too much trouble so just don't talk to them unless you actually want to deal with hysterical, PMSing banshees."

Neji stared at Shikamaru for a while. "What kind of advice was that supposed to be?"

"Good advice." With that, the lazy genius put his head down on the table and went back to sleep.

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**Oh and feel free to leave a review **


	3. Breaking Down Stereotypes

For Shenhui who like requested for another chapter lol. This is such a slow burner but it is supposed to be helping me with my character development and writing style otherwise I'd just write vaguely entertaining crack. I hope you all like it, I don't think much happens in this chapter. I can't promise quick regular updates though because I'm pretty busy at the moment but I couldn't resist cos I got struck by a bolt of inspiration.

Thank you to everyone who reviewed, all those lovely reviews make me really happy! Please feel free to leave constructive criticism as well if you can see anything I can improve on too.

I will make a few comments before I go onto the story cos I've been getting a few similar questions and comments in reviews:

First, the school system is definitely not based on the American school system because I have never attended one before, hence I wouldn't be able to write it. Congrats to those who noticed that. I went through the Australian school system so this is what it's based on. it is probably similar to British based systems.

Also a couple of people asked me to do a sleepover scene. I will do my best to include one if it fits with the direction I want to take this story in. I honestly don't know if I will or not because I do feel that it is overdone, as well as the Truth and Dare games that they play and the whole description of whatever pjs the girls happen to be wearing. But then again... Highschool AUs are overdone... If I manage to get inspiration, I will try to do a sleepover scene but it's not going to be a typical one.

**Disclaimer: I do not own anything and if I did, I wouldn't admit to it cos then that would just encourage people to sue me.**

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**Breaking Down Stereotypes **

For a sporty girl, she didn't strike him as the bookworm type. She had a habit of surprising him with her little quirks. He stole a glance at her through the gaps in the bookshelf where she stood on the other side, delicate brows furrowed in concentration as she tried to decide which of the five books in her arms she was going to borrow out. Finally making her decision, she placed two books back on the shelves and moved away before becoming distracted by another book that had caught her eye. Neji smiled to himself, it was endearing the way she wanted to read everything in the library but couldn't because she couldn't possibly carry all the books home.

His last exam was tomorrow and he felt prepared. Neji returned the Economics textbook to its shelf and went back to the study desk he had claimed after school and began packing up. Dinner would be soon and he was starting to get hungry. Tenten breezed past him, "Hey Neji, nerding as usual I see." She shot him a teasing grin before going over to the school librarian to have her books checked out.

Neji caught up with her as she exited the library. "Hn."

Looking over at his expression, she chuckled as she proceeded to attempt to cram her books into her bag but it was already full. She noted his raised eyebrow when he saw that she was reading 'The Virgin Suicides' but he made no comment. Great he probably thought she was a suicidal virgin now or some weird freak.

"Here," he muttered taking the books from her arms and shoved it into his bag with his other books. "I'll carry them for you."

"No, it's alright I can manage," she replied hastily, trying to grab them back off him.

He smirked and motioned wordlessly at her two bulging bags; one for her school stuff and the other for her sports gear. Neji then turned and began to make his way to the bus stop.

"Hey!" she yelled after him. He didn't turn back; he knew she was following him. "I can carry my own books you know, I'm not a weak little girl," she continued to huff when she finally caught up to him. The tall boy made no reply. Well she didn't actually mind that much, her bags were particularly heavy today and he was being a gentleman after all.

* * *

Their bus hadn't arrived yet and they sat on the bench together, their schoolbags creating a safety barrier between them both. They were the only people at the bus stop, everyone had already gone home. He hadn't even pulled out his ipod yet, it just felt rude somehow even though he would normally have no qualms about doing it to anyone else. "So do you read much?" she asked after a long awkward silence.

He shrugged, "Not really."

Tenten fidgeted, unsure of what to say. Neji continued to stare off into space. He wasn't much of a conversationalist at all. Even when he was sitting with his group of friends at lunch, he didn't seem to say much. But at least he had started talking to her more, it was definitely an improvement.

"I read some Tolkien and Robert Jordan," he offered finally.

He was sci-fi fantasy geek, which was not what she expected at all. She had expected something… less geeky. "I wasn't fond of The Wheel of Time, it was good at the beginning and it just got really long-winded and I hated the way he portrays the female characters," she told him apologetically.

Neji turned and fixed his pale eyes on her, surprised that she had read the series. Hinata had tried reading the first book, gave up and went back to reading some trashy chick-lit book. "It is getting long-winded but I want to know what happens in the end."

Tenten shrugged, "Good probably will triumph over evil as usual. Have you read Discworld? That's very satirical stuff."

"No never, hadn't even heard of it," he replied, suddenly feeling rather ignorant. He didn't really have time to read and when he had spare time he usually ended up gaming or watching Bleach instead but he wasn't going to tell her that.

"I should lend you some, if you like fantasy you should probably like it. The break is coming up soon, it'll be some nice holiday reading for you," she offered.

"So that's why you're stocking up?" asked Neji wryly.

She laughed sheepishly and rubbed the back of her head, "Well I actually have a few piles of 5 classics that I haven't gotten around to yet so I should really get through them first before I borrow out new books." They lapsed back into silence again. "So have you finished your exams yet?"

"Economics tomorrow."

"Oh that sucks… my last exam was Chemistry yesterday."

Neji shrugged, he had been prepared for it so he had found it pretty easy. "Did you manage to get the last titration problem?"

"Yeah I think so," she smiled at him. "After you explained it to me I actually get them now."

He nodded solemnly and turned his head, he could hear something rumbling down the road. The bus appeared and pulled up beside them. It was mostly empty. Neji hung back, allowing her to get on first before following her onto the bus. Tenten sat herself in the back seat and he suddenly found himself in a dilemma. Sit in the back row with her, keep talking and possibly send out some creepy stalker signal or sit away from her in another row and possibly offend her. She might not even like him that much. Tenten was a nice friendly girl and would be too nice to tell an annoying boy who kept chatting to her to go away. He had seen that happen to her a few times at school. The bus started moving suddenly and he lost his balance, stumbling clumsily into the back row. Neji inwardly cursed at his indecision, causing him to embarrass himself in front of her.

She laughed kindly, "Are you alright?"

He mumbled something incoherent under his breath and sunk into his seat.

"So do you have much planned for the holidays?"

Neji shrugged, "Not much, you?"

"A lot of dance rehearsals because I have a couple of solos for the concert that's coming up. Other than that just catch up with some of my friends who went to Suna," she replied.

"Do you find it very different now in a co-ed school?" he asked, suddenly curious. She had seemed quite lost at the beginning of the year being the only girl in their grade but now she was treated as being one of the boys. Everyone in their grade felt comfortable talking to her. She was just one of those girls who could get along with everybody. Tenten didn't seem to mind the dirty jokes now and then either and she wasn't overly emotional and hormonal the way Sakura and Ino were. In fact she would be perfect girlfriend material; she was like a guy, but female and gorgeous. However, he had a feeling that she had no idea how pretty she really was.

"Of course!" she exclaimed. "I'm like an honorary boy now. If I don't talk to Ino, Sakura or Hinata anymore, all I would know was which basketball teams were playing and which soccer games were on." Tenten sighed, "I miss doing girly things with my girlfriends like slumber parties, shopping and stuff like that. But it's good that it's a lot less bitchy than it is in all-girls schools, no more bitching about other girls."

"You could hang out with Shikamaru if you really miss female company, he bitches about girls all the time," Neji suggested, deadpan. Tenten snorted and burst out laughing. He smirked at her and glanced out the window, he would be arriving at his bus stop soon. Time had certainly flown. Neji pressed the bell and the bus stop sign began to flash. He made his way to door. The bus pulled into the curb and the door opened. He nodded at her before waving his thanks to the driver.

She waved at him from the rear window when he glanced up at the bus. The bus pulled away and she quickly became a speck in a distance. Neji caught himself grinning like an idiot and quickly wiped it off his face. How could a girl have such an effect on him? Tenten made him a nervous wreck yet at the same time he could drop his guard around her and relax. He tried to be logical about it but it just didn't make sense, in fact hardly anything was making sense anymore.

Neji suddenly swore. He just remembered he still had her library books.

* * *

He had finished his exam early, it had been fairly easy. Ebisu had written in large clear letters on the board that no one was allowed to leave the exam early. Neji exhaled and stared out the window. Half an hour to go and he had already checked his paper over thrice. Time crawled as he counted the birds outside the window chirping and hopping around on the tree branches. There were seven birds, twenty-two students in the class, thirty desks and one teacher. Neji's eyes flickered towards the clock on the wall. Fifteen minutes more to go and then it was off to assembly to listen to Tsunade's threats before the end of term holidays. He hardly paid her any attention anymore because there was nothing he hadn't heard before although her threats were quite imaginative at times. One of his favourites was her threat to use as a punching bag, and then castrate, anyone who acted inappropriately at one of the school dances.

"Ten more minutes" Ebisu announced before pushing his dark glasses up his nose. As if on cue, the bell for the next period rang. Their whole class would be late for assembly today. Most people were finished except for a few of the students who hadn't actually studied. Neji rolled up his sleeves as he waited impatiently, eyes fixated on the second hand of the clock inching its way along at an agonising pace. After what seemed to be forever, Ebisu finally let them out of the exam and their class trudged their way wearily to the assembly hall.

He shoved his hands deep into his pockets and peered around the assembly hall, looking for an empty seat. Tsunade had already started on her threats. Seeing an empty seat behind Tenten who had her hair in her two distinctive messy buns, he slid into it silently and leaned forward. "Did I miss much?" he asked quietly.

She started violently and spun around, shaking her head, "Don't sneak up on me like that!" Neji couldn't help almost laughing at her reaction, had she actually been listening to Tsunade's rants? He loosened his tie; it was warm in the hall with the entire school being crammed into it.

"Just had your Economics exam?"

He nodded and leaned closer towards her, "Ebisu wouldn't let us out early. I have your books in my locker by the way." Neji had been about to say more when he suddenly felt a firm hand gripping his shoulder.

"Stop hitting onto girls Hyuuga, save that for your holidays and pay attention," said Kakashi casually. He could hear a hint of amusement in the teacher's voice. Absolutely mortified, Neji slumped back into his seat, cheeks flaming. Other boys began sniggering around him. Tenten smiled apologetically at him before turning back to the front. Had he been flirting? He didn't really know how to anyhow and was it that obvious that he liked her?

* * *

They sat in the final assembly, listening to Tsunade begin by telling them that if she heard any reports of bad student behaviour after the holidays, she would hang them by their thumbs from the flagpole in front of the school as an example to other students. Tenten began counting the number of cracks on the ceiling and wondered when the school would finally use the fees her father paid for her tuition to get the assembly hall renovated before it fell down around her. She glanced at the three other girls, Sakura, Hinata and Ino sitting in the row in front of her, all not paying much attention to Tsunade's threats. Everyone was used to it by now; she didn't actually carry any of them out except for the time Naruto had let loose a chicken in her office. Ino was busily filing and buffing her nails, Sakura was fiddling with her hair ribbon and Hinata fidgeted with her fingers. Most of the male student population had fallen asleep or were kicking a scrunched up ball of paper around as a makeshift soccer game. She wondered where Neji was, he still had her library books. Suddenly she heard a voice whispered softly into her ear, "Did I miss much?"

Tenten nearly jumped out of her seat and shook her head. "Don't sneak up on me like that," she hissed as she turned around to face none other than the boy she had just been thinking about. Her annoyance faded quickly, he was looking particularly good today. Maybe it was because he seemed more relaxed and was smiling. He really should smile more. Neji loosened his tie, it was warm in the assembly hall and he had already rolled up his sleeves. A few other boys in their year were coming in late as well, quietly finding empty seats to sit in. "Just had your Economics exam?" she quietly asked him.

The pale eyed boy nodded and leaned forwards towards her, "Ebisu wouldn't let us out early. I have your books in my locker by the way."

Kakashi suddenly appeared behind him and grabbed his shoulder. "Stop hitting onto girls Hyuuga, save that for your holidays and pay attention," he drawled, eyes fixated on his precious orange Icha Icha books whilst he 'disciplined' the student. Neji froze and leaned back quickly, eyes downcast and cheeks slightly pink. A few other boys sitting near them sniggered.

She grinned sheepishly at him and turned back to the front but she couldn't relax knowing that he was sitting directly behind her, pale eyes boring intensely into the back of her head. Tenten wondered if she liked him as a friend or as something else. He was certainly one of the best looking guys she knew and he was nice once he started to open up. She felt rather flustered around him at times although they were starting to become friends. Tenten didn't want to admit it but she had a bit of a crush on him. A lot of Konoha Girls Grammar girls had had crushes on him in the past, she just hadn't taken much notice back then but now she did remember girls gushing about Hinata's really hot cousin during lunch breaks and on the buses. She wouldn't have considered the incident as flirting with her anyway; it was no use hoping that he would. Neji was way out of her league. Guys like him went out with the most popular girls and she was just 'nice girl Tenten', everybody's friend. No one particularly special.

* * *

**A/N:** Haha yes the whole convo about books, I am a bookworm so that should hopefully be enough explanation.

**Feel free to leave me a review and make my day!**


	4. Speculations and Pizza

**For my good friend I.Heart.Hatake.Kakashi who was lovely enough to pimp out this fic in one of her own stories wthout me even asking her to. I was so happy, cos it was the first time I ever got publicity for one of my fics! She's a good writer too so go check out her stuff XP**

**Sorry ShikallllTema there's no going to Neji's locker for you, you'll have to imagine that for yourself but on the bright side, I did do a sleepover for you and leaf.does.not.wither. **

**I shall be hiding under a rock studying for midsem exams for the next few weeks... ugh.  
**

**Disclaimer: I do not claim to have any intellectual property in the Naruto characters **

* * *

**Speculation and Pizzas  
**

His fingers flew over the black and white keys as he worked on one of the more difficult runs in the piece. Neji was in what he liked to call 'The Zone'. The Zone was when everything else in his life was blocked out except for the music. It soothed him and it was almost like meditation for him. He normally spent an hour or two practising the piano on most days. His teacher had given up trying to convince him to play at recitals because he stubbornly refused each time. Neji was willing to do the exams and he had passed all of them with High Distinctions, he had already received his Associate diploma and he knew he would have done well at the competitions. Yet something held him back. To him, playing the piano wasn't just something that he happened to be good at; it went much further than that, it was a way for him to connect with his long dead father. His father had forced him to play the instrument because he loved music and Neji had been rather hyperactive when young. Taking piano lessons meant requiring the young boy to sit still for at least thirty minutes. However, Neji had become much more withdrawn when his father died but he continued playing, it gave him an outlet to express himself which he would not have had otherwise. Not many people knew he played or how well he played, it wasn't that he kept it a secret but it was just personal.

Neji was repeating a particularly difficult passage when he saw a movement in the reflection of the room behind him in the black polished wood of the instrument. He stopped abruptly and turned around.

"Please don't stop, that was amazing!" said Tenten, her eyes wide.

He continued staring at her, at a slight loss for words as he wondered what on earth she was doing in his house.

She misinterpreted his silence as annoyance with her. "Oh sorry, I'll stop disturbing your practice." The brunette girl turned to leave the room.

"It's fine, I just didn't expect to see you here," he replied sharply. He mentally hit himself, he didn't mean for it to come out sounding so harsh.

Tenten turned back to face him with a sheepish grin, "Hinata invited me for her three day sleepover 'cause we all have lots of dance rehearsals in the next few days."

"I thought I heard Ino and Sakura," he mused as he turned his back to her and began putting away his music before shutting the piano. During brief breaks in his practice, he thought he had heard them bickering loudly. Great, they would be bickering non-stop in his home for three days.

"Sorry Neji, I didn't mean to ruin your practice," apologised Tenten again.

"I was about to finish anyway," he told her. "I'm getting a drink, do you want anything?" he asked, trying to play the good host.

"Just water is fine," she replied, still sounding rather apologetic. "But I was looking for you 'cause I brought some Discworld books for you." Tenten gave him a slightly embarrassed smile as she handed him a few brightly coloured books.

Neji couldn't help raising a questioning eyebrow at the strange chaotic cartoonish designs on the cover. "Thanks," he murmured nonetheless.

They both walked to the kitchen in silence. He wasn't sure what to say as usual so he kept his mouth shut to avoid making a fool of himself. Sakura and Ino's voices became louder as they approached the kitchen. The two girls were arguing over what they should all eat for dinner. Sakura wanted to make sushi but Ino wanted to make salads. Hinata was standing aside poking her fingers together, looking distressed. Hanabi was making herself Milo in the midst of the battlefield, unperturbed that World War III was about to erupt in the room.

"Hanabi, dinner will be soon, don't drink too much," Neji warned her sternly. He was slightly annoyed at Hinata for not telling him that she was having her girlfriends over for a sleepover because Hiashi had left him in charge whilst he was on an overseas trip for some business conference.

His younger cousin pulled a face at him, "But I've already poured the milk in."

"Oh, hi Neji," said Ino and Sakura in unison when they finally noticed his arrival. He grunted at them in reply.

"As charming as usual," said Ino sarcastically.

He ignored her and poured Tenten a glass of water. "Hanabi, don't even think about eating those biscuits. If you do I won't let you have any ice-cream after dinner."

The little girl pouted and replaced the biscuits in the tin sulkily. "But I'm hungry Neji!" she whined.

Tenten tried to hide an amused smile as she sipped her water. Neji would make good husband material one day. She mentally smacked herself in the head for thinking such thoughts, this was her friend… that was if they could be considered friends. They didn't communicate much outside of school but they didn't annoy the hell out of each other either.

"Just hang on for fifteen minutes; I'll go get some pizza," he grumbled as he began searching in one of the drawers for the pizza vouchers they kept for moments like these.

"But we wanted to make dinner," protested Sakura. She glared at him with her hands on her hips. "We brought ingredients and everything."

Neji sighed, why couldn't his friends have sleepovers too so he could escape from this overload of oestrogen. He glanced at the kitchen clock, it was already 7.36 pm. "By the time dinner is ready it'll be 8-something and you girls will be here for a few days anyway so just cook tomorrow night," he replied firmly, his tone making it clear that he wasn't in the mood for arguments. "Now what kind of pizzas do you want?"

"Hawaiian," Hanabi chirped immediately.

"Vegetarian," said Hinata bashfully. Kiba and Shino had managed to convince his soft hearted cousin to join their Environmental Conservation Club as an active member. She was now slowly evolving into a hippie. It was good that she was becoming environmentally aware but she was trying to turn the whole family vegetarian and Neji really liked his meat.

"Supreme please."

"No, let's get Meatatarian Forehead."

"I don't want Meatatarian you stupid Pig."

Neji wondered how on earth two people could bicker so much but still remain best of friends. Maybe it was a girl thing. Ino and Sakura continued along this vein for a few minutes before Tenten turned towards him rolling her eyes. "A Supreme and a Meatatarian for those two please."

"Do you want anything?" he asked her. Ino and Sakura continued to argue in the background over whether they wanted thick or thin crust.

"I eat anything and you'd better make it a thick crust for the supreme and a thin crust for the meatatarian." Tenten glanced over at the two and shook her head.

"Hanabi do you want to watch Highschool Musical?" asked Hinata gently, deciding that she'd better take her little sister away from all the arguing. It was setting a bad example and she was starting to get a headache.

Hanabi nodded and climbed off the stool she had been standing on to make her Milo on the high kitchen counter. The young girl followed her sister unquestioningly out of the room.

"Ok I'm going to go get them now," muttered Neji, grabbing the car keys.

"I'll help you carry the pizzas," Tenten volunteered eagerly. As much as she loved those two girls as friends, they occasionally got on her nerves with all their arguing.

* * *

He had gotten his license fairly recently and he often wished that his uncle would let him have the car more often because he liked driving. It was relaxing. He and Tenten spent most of the car ride in silence until she started asking him what he wanted to do after school.

Neji wasn't entirely sure what he wanted to do after school. Perhaps medicine, dentistry or law. He had most of it planned out and once he had a plan he stuck to it. He was one of those people who liked their routines. His revolved mostly around school, study, sports training, occasionally hanging out with his mates and piano practice. He admitted that he loved playing the instrument but he was realistic, most musicians didn't get paid much and often had to have part-time jobs on the side unless he wanted to be a music teacher. But the problem was that he wasn't very fond of kids when there was more than three for him to deal with at once. His uncle often tried to steer him towards investment banking or stock broking but he wasn't interested in it, he actually didn't care that much about money. All that mattered was that it was a stable job that paid the bills, allowed him to live comfortably and didn't bore him to death. His plan was straightforward; graduate from highschool with good marks, study at a good university, maintain a high grade point average and to do well in his career.

Tenten, on the other hand, wanted to become a professional dancer, take a year off after graduation to travel and to generally live life to the fullest. She was smart but she had told him that she didn't think that getting top marks was necessarily everything. Tenten began trying to convince him to take a gap year. She wanted to backpack all over the world and she had read about some volunteer program that you could do in some of the poorer countries. It was intriguing, she was intriguing. He was very tempted but his uncle would kill him for wasting an entire year. It didn't fit into his plan but Tenten had a knack for turning his world upside down and making him rethink his future plan.

* * *

Neji found himself sitting on one couch with Hanabi and Tenten eating pizza and watching Highschool Musical when they returned with the food. Hinata, Ino and Sakura were sitting on another couch eating pizza and whispering quietly. Hanabi and Tenten were both absorbed in the movie. His youngest cousin was mouthing all the words along to the movie. She had watched it far too many times. He reached for another piece of pizza. He was really hungry today and was already onto his sixth slice. Tenten was onto her fourth, he was impressed, girls in his limited experience usually couldn't eat much or wouldn't because they were on a diet.

"Neji, do you want my pineapple? I don't like pineapple," asked Hanabi turning her large lavender eyes on him.

He sighed with exasperation, why did the child order Hawaiian if she didn't like pineapple in the first place?! Neji held out his plate to Hanabi and she deposited all the pineapple pieces she had picked off her pizza onto his.

Tenten chuckled, "Such a good older cousin."

"Hn."

"Neji, you're a machine. You just finished an entire pizza by yourself," she continued to observe.

He grunted at her, he was starting to feel its effects as well. Good thing he had basketball training tomorrow.

"Don't worry," she gave his side a friendly jab. He squirmed, he was ticklish. "You have nothing to worry about it's all muscle." Neji pushed her hand away.

Hanabi was giggling, "Neji's really ticklish." She then began poking his other side as well.

Neji growled and stood up swiftly, he was going to escape to his room. All the girls seemed to enjoy picking on him whenever they outnumbered him greatly! Both Hanabi and Tenten were giggling at his reaction whilst Hinata, Sakura and Ino looked on with interest. Neji glared at all the girls before getting rid of the empty pizza boxes and retreating to the safety of his room.

"Wow, he's so well-trained," Tenten drawled nonchalantly as he left the room.

Hinata giggled softly, "Well he is single."

"Yeah you both looked like you were getting along really well," Sakura added slyly.

"We should like totally set you both up. I reckon you'd make a cute couple," chipped in Ino mischievously.

Tenten threw a cushion at them, "Haha, very funny but no thanks."

"Just think, if you go to the Formal together you'd have a good looking partner for all the photos," pointed out Sakura unhelpfully.

Tenten threw another cushion at the pink haired girl. "Get stuffed."

"Yeah just try not to get too frisky with each other at the after party though, remember that the best form of protection is abstinence," joked Ino.

"Argh you're terrible!" groaned Tenten before chucking the last cushion at the blonde.

"Ino! My little sister is in the room don't say stuff like that!" scolded Hinata.

Ino laughed, "Whoops, cover your ears Hanabi."

"Boys are stupid, as if you'd go to the Formal (1) anyway," Hanabi retorted. She was still at the age where she hated boys and boy germs. The little girl hadn't been listening to their conversation much anyway, her older sister and her friends always talked about boring things.

"Hinata, does Neji like Tenten?" asked Ino, continuing to tease Tenten.

Hinata shrugged and smiled, "I don't know he hasn't said anything to me about it."

Tenten rolled her eyes and snapped, "Will you guys just drop it? There's nothing going on between the two of us. He doesn't like me, if he did he would have made a move ages ago." She was getting quite annoyed with how immature the other girls were about boys. Just because those three constantly analysed whether any form of interaction with any boy meant that the boy had a crush on them didn't mean she did that too.

Ino opened her mouth to needle the older girl some more but Sakura elbowed her sharply in the ribs. Hinata glanced at the clock, it was getting late, Hanabi should have been in bed a while ago and their dance rehearsals started fairly early tomorrow. "It's getting late we should go sleep," she said quietly to break the awkward silence that had settled over them. Her friends left to go get ready for bed.

Hinata took her sleepy sister to her room and before going to bed herself; she popped her head into Neji's room. He was still awake watching some anime on his computer. One orange haired boy was charging at another man with an oversized kitchen knife. "Hey Neji?"

He turned towards her and raised a questioning eyebrow.

"Can you give us a lift to the Dance School tomorrow morning? Our rehearsals start at 9am," she asked bashfully.

Neji sighed, "Yeah I'll give you girls a lift, I have basketball at 9.30 anyway." He glanced at his clock, it was nearing midnight, and he needed to sleep soon.

"Neji," Hinata continued quietly. "Do you like Tenten?"

He turned and glared at her, "You girls gossip too much, there's nothing going on between the two of us."

"Oh sorry, I was just wondering," Hinata mumbled before wishing him goodnight and going to bed.

Neji laid flat on his back on his bed and stared at his ceiling. Was there anything going on between the two of them? He didn't think that Tenten liked him in the romantic sense because she had never showed any hint of it. Of course fate would have it that all the girls who displayed interest in him were girls he would rather have nothing to do with but with the one girl he actually liked, she didn't seem that interested. In any case, he was actually talking to her more now and it was a big step for him. Perhaps something good would come out of it, but for now, he was going to keep his expectations low and just be happy that she was actually willingly talking to him.

* * *

**A/N: **Geez I wonder what anime Neji was watching lol.

**(1)** Ok when I say "Formal" that's like the "Prom" but where I'm from, we don't call it the Prom so sorry if I'm not using terms you may all be familiar with, I have a bad habit of doing that which is something I.Heart.Hatake.Kakashi can attest to.

I had a bit of difficulty with the ending... trying not to go down the typical highschool fic path is hard... and I feel like I may have with the sleepover, oh dear. But feel free to give me a review, I love hearing from my readers. I even try to reply to everyone but yeah if you don't actually want me to reply that's fine too just add a note in the review saying 'Do not reply' or even "you suck" Either one works fine... I'll probably cry myself to sleep if you say the 2nd one hahaha.

_3 Shadeehue_


	5. Realisations and Cake

**Extra long chapter as requested by Shenhui... I don't think I can write extra long chapters like this very often, it takes me forever to write and proof-read (yes I do actually proof-read my stuff and yes I know, there are still plenty of typos here and there) Sorry I took a while to update and that there's a lot of crapping on but hopefully this chapter should tide you all over for a while because I have to really concentrate on my studies and I shall be hiding under a rock after this probably until the holidays which are in June. Maybe if I need a break from study I'll write...  
**

**Anyhoos, this is dedicated to all the nice lovely people who have been reviewing my story and adding it to alerts and faves Enjoy!**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or the song lyrics, but I did see the band live and they are awesome!  
**

* * *

_And if you'd 'a took to me like  
A gull takes to the wind.  
Well, I'd 'a jumped from my tree  
And I'd a danced like the king of the eyesores  
And the rest of our lives would 'a fared well._

New Slang - The Shins

* * *

**Realisations and Cake**

He really should not have stayed up so late watching all those episodes of Bleach. He had accidentally hit the 'off' button instead of the snooze button on his alarm and had woken up with only ten minutes to get ready. Having Ino and Sakura constantly bickering loudly was probably a blessing in disguise because that was what had woken him this morning. Neji dug through his closet frantically looking for his basketball uniform. He couldn't find the shirt anywhere and he sprinted down the stairs to search the laundry basket.

"Oh good morning," said Tenten pleasantly as she blinked at him with surprise. Neji realised that he was only dressed in a pair of basketball shorts. She had been reading the newspaper while Hinata was putting Hanabi's hair into a bun for ballet class.

"Hinata, do you know where my basketball shirt is?"

His cousin didn't pause in her task of smoothing Hanabi's hair back into a neat bun, "Um, if it's not in the laundry it might be outside on the line still." She had mastered the task of multitasking years ago since having had to take on her mother's role ever since she passed away from cancer many years ago.

* * *

Tenten had decided to wake up early to make breakfast for everyone since she was feeling rather guilty for snapping at Ino and Sakura last night. They didn't mean any harm, they had just been teasing. There were a few pieces of French toast left for Neji since he hadn't emerged from his room yet. Only her, Hinata and Hanabi were ready to go. Sakura and Ino had gone back upstairs to fix their hair and were arguing over who got to use the hairdryer.

Neji suddenly came running down the stairs without a shirt on. She blinked in surprise but she couldn't help but admire his firm toned abs… "Oh good morning," Tenten said almost dreamily. He looked down as if only just realising that he was half-dressed.

"Hinata, do you know where my basketball shirt is?" he asked quickly, his voice still gravelly from having just woken up.

"Um, if it's not in the laundry it might be outside on the line still," she replied as she snapped the pink scrunchie into place on her younger sister's head.

Neji spun, disappeared into the laundry and proceeded to tear it apart. Tenten glanced at the clock, 8.37 am, they were going to be late for rehearsals. Well, Hanabi would be late for class and the rest of them would be late for rehearsals. However, they were just rehearsing by themselves without Anko to supervise so it didn't really matter for them. But Hanabi, on the other hand, would be in trouble. Somebody was not going to have time to eat breakfast before leaving. She sighed and began to clear away the breakfast.

* * *

"Hanabi, you have to duck down and hide for the whole car ride because Neji will get into heaps of trouble if the police catch us," chided Hinata.

Her little sister glared at her reproachfully but bent down reluctantly. Four of them were crammed into the backseat rather illegally while Tenten sat up the front with Neji. At least it was a fairly short trip to the Dance School so the uncomfortable ride wouldn't last too long.

Neji reversed the Lexus out of the garage swiftly and ended up speeding most of the way seeing that they had to make it their destination in 7 minutes for what normally took 15 minutes. Sakura and Ino were clutching at each other nervously as he sped down the street. Hinata and Hanabi didn't seem to mind as much since they knew he was a good driver. He was especially in a foul mood as his basketball shirt was still damp from being outside in the cool morning and he was starving.

After running a few red lights and cutting into other people's lanes, Neji finally pulled up sharply in front of the Dance School only four minutes late. "What time do you finish?" he asked them as he pulled up the handbrake.

"Hanabi finishes at 12, the rest of us finish at 4," Hinata replied, struggling to unbuckle her little sister as Hanabi's pink frilly tutu kept getting in the way.

"Ok I'll pick up Hanabi and come back for the rest of you at 4 then," Neji stated. The girls piled out of the car and they all began running up the stairs of the building except for Tenten.

She leaned down towards the car window, "Wait I have something for you." Tenten fumbled around in her gym bag for a bit before pulling out something that looked like food wrapped in aluminium foil. "It's your breakfast; hopefully it's still edible."

Neji took it from her, thanking her politely. She waved at him quickly before disappearing into the building. He stared at the food in his hand for a moment before grinning idiotically to himself and driving to his school for basketball practice.

* * *

Neji emerged from the showers with only a towel wrapped around his waist. Naruto bounded up to him, "Hey Neji are you coming over to Shikamaru's place with the rest of us? We're gonna play with his new Wii."

"I have to pick up my cousin from her dance class first," he replied sourly. Neji pulled on a clean spare set of clothes he had brought along. He hated staying in sweaty gym clothes for too long and basketball training with Kakashi had been surprisingly intense today.

"Oh ok that's cool man, the more the merrier. Shikamaru's mum is gonna cook us something nice for lunch I heard," Naruto continued chattering on. "Poor Kiba, he's missing out on all the fun today I wonder what happened to him."

"He has some family thing on," Shino said monotously.

"Hey Naruto, you coming or what?" snapped Sasuke grouchily.

"Yeah, yeah, I'm coming, don't get your panties in a twist geez." That earned Naruto a punch from his best friend.

Neji nodded at his friends as they parted ways, he to his car whereas Naruto, Sasuke, Shikamaru, Chouji and Shino were going to walk to Shikamaru's house. When he arrived at the Dance School to pick Hanabi up, he was surprised to see her still wearing her pink ballet uniform. "Why didn't you get changed?" he asked her as she climbed into the front seat next to him.

"I didn't bring other clothes. Aren't we going straight home?" she said, looking confused.

"No, I'm going to hang out with my friends and you have to come with me since I can't leave you alone at home," sighed Neji.

"Oh," there was a moment of silence before Hanabi continued chattering on brightly. "Guess what, we learnt a new routine today. My friend Eriko also invited me to her birthday party and she said that there's going to be ponies there and it's going to be so much fun, I can't wait! Do you think father will let me have pony rides when I have my next birthday party?"

Neji tried to tune out his cousin until she started talking about the older dancers at the school, in particular, Tenten.

"Can we go early to pick up Hinata and her friends? I really want to watch them dance. Tenten can do all kinds of cartwheels and it's really really cool! I want to be as good as her one day!"

"Isn't a cartwheel just a cartwheel?" he asked the little girl amusedly.

"No," Hanabi replied indignantly. "You can do them with two hands or one hand or no hands at all and Tenten can do them all!"

"Wow," Neji replied, rather impressed. They reached Shikamaru's house and he parked on the grass. Both cousins stood in front of the door and he let Hanabi press the doorbell. Neji could hear the others arguing and playing games in the background but it was a while before Mrs Nara finally opened the door.

"Oh hello Neji," said the Shikamaru's mum. Her face lit up as soon as she saw Hanabi dressed in her pink ballerina outfit. "And who do we have here?" she said with a sugary sweet tone as she bent down to have a better look at the little girl.

"Hello Mrs Nara," Neji said politely. "This is my cousin Hanabi, I hope you don't mind if I brought her with me."

"Oh of course not, she's adorable. I was going to bake a cake, maybe she would like to help me?" said the older woman who looked like she literally wanted to eat his cousin up.

Neji nudged Hanabi sharply. "Hello Mrs Nara," she greeted dutifully.

"Oh, come in both of you, the other boys are playing with the Wii in the living room already," she ushered them both in.

"Oh hey Neji!" said Naruto enthusiastically, Sasuke and Shino was currently playing against Shikamaru and Chouji in a game of Wii tennis. It had been Naruto's turn to sit out. The blonde looked at Hanabi with confusion written clearly on his face. "I thought you were bringing Hinata with you…"

Shikamaru paused the game and all the other boys turned and stared at the little girl who was dressed in a pink leotard with white stockings and a pink tutu who was standing next to Neji, staring back at them. None of them really knew what to make of her. They weren't exactly used to pink and frilly.

"Neji, what is that?" asked Sasuke bluntly.

"This is my little cousin Hanabi, there's no one to look after her at home so I brought her along with me," replied the older boy.

She had already spotted the Wii and was looking at it wistfully. Hanabi tugged at Neji's hand, "Neji can I have a go on the Wii?"

Shikamaru gave him a beseeching look, he didn't want his brand new Wii to be wrecked by some little girl. Neji looked uncertainly between his friend and his cousin who was staring up at him with large round pleading lavender eyes. He hated those eyes, not a single person was immune to their power except for Hinata.

But he was saved. "Hanabi," called Shikamaru's mum from the kitchen. "Would you like to help me ice the cake?"

Hanabi's eyes widened with delight and she ran to the kitchen. "Can I make it a pink unicorn cake?"

All the boys stared after her before Shikamaru turned to ask Neji, "Is your cousin for real?"

Half an hour later, all the boys were seated around the table eyeing their piece of pink unicorn cake with horror.

* * *

Neji hadn't known whether to be proud of his cousin for being able to thrash his friends in Super Smash Brothers, even though it hadn't really taken much skill since it just involved her button mashing and somehow managing to pull off all kinds of combos without know what she was doing, or feel sorry for his friends for being thrashed by a little girl in a pink frilly tutu.

"It's 3 o'clock already!" she suddenly exclaimed when she saw the time on her watch. "We have to go watch Hinata and her friends dance!"

"Just a minute, I want to finish this game," muttered Neji as he tried to kill Sasuke on the screen.

"Hurry up!" Hanabi continued to whine.

With his concentration broken, Sasuke was able to strike the final blow and kill him. Neji passed the controller to Naruto who had been waiting for his go impatiently. "Fine, we're going now," he growled, allowing his cousin to yank him to his feet. "See you guys later," he announced and left the living room.

Shikamaru's mum was watering the plants at the front door, blocking their exit momentarily. "Thank you for the cake Mrs Nara and for having us," Neji recited dutifully.

"It was a pleasure and feel free to bring Hanabi along anytime," she replied cheerfully.

As they headed to the car, they could hear Shikamaru's mum suddenly screech at her lazy son for leaving his dirty sneakers all over the house. As they climbed into the car, Hanabi asked him eagerly, "Can we get a Wii, it's lots of fun!"

"Ask your dad, he's the one with the money," replied Neji as he started the car and drove to the dance school.

As soon as he had parked the car, Hanabi bounded out of the car and up the stairs. Neji grumbled under his breath about hyperactive children before hurrying into the building after her. As Hanabi led him through the corridors, he glanced into some of the rooms and they were just huge empty spaces with mirrors as walls. There were a few classes still going, they passed a class full of the elderly having a ballroom dancing lesson and another was full of very young girls learning ballet. His cousin finally skidded to a stop in front of a room that had music playing at a muted volume from where he was. Neji grabbed her shoulder as she made to open the door. "Are we actually allowed inside?" he hissed at her.

"Yes, Anko always tells us that we should watch the better dancers whenever we get the chance so we can learn from them. This is the stage so there are seats for us, don't worry so much Neji!" The girl shrugged him off and pushed open the door. The music became louder and Neji found himself at the back of the audience seats. Hanabi grabbed his hand and dragged him closer to the stage were he could see Hinata, Tenten, Sakura and Ino dancing with their male partners but they seemed to be having trouble staying in unison with each other. Neji's eyes widened with surprise when he saw Kiba on the stage and then he smirked. So this was the 'family thing' Kiba had that made him miss basketball training. Kiba gaped when he noticed his friend and accidentally dropped his partner Ino. The blonde girl shrieked as she fell clumsily on her bottom before verbally abusing the boy. The other dancers gathered around to laugh at the commotion, not noticing the presence of the two new audience members. Neji noted that Lee, Sai and an older boy Haku were the girls' partners. Lee, he already knew did dancing and he hadn't been too surprised that Sai was a dancer as well seeing that that boy was quite odd and slightly effeminate at times. He didn't know Haku very well as the older boy had been two years ahead of him at school. All Neji really knew about him was that he was quiet, polite and was Naruto's friend. Everyone at school had also queried whether he was in fact male for a long time until Haku finally hit puberty and became more masculine looking and apparently quite appealing to members of the opposite sex. It was around this time Haku had changed schools, from Konoho Grammar to Kirigakure High.

Anko, the dance instructor and choreographer clapped her hands impatiently at her students. "Right you maggots, what is the matter with you lot?! You're not dancing in unison, you need to listen to the beat and males, watch your partners and try to match them, they don't have eyes in the back of their heads!" She crossed her arms and scowled at them fiercely. "Haku and Tenten," she called.

Both Haku and Tenten stepped up, "Yes Anko," they said in unison then exchanged amused glances with each other.

"Can you both please show the others how it's meant to be done?" sighed Anko as she strode over to the laptop which was plugged into the sound system. The music began playing and Tenten and Haku got into their positions and began dancing.

Neji had once heard of the term 'poetry in motion', and it was the only thing he could think of that really described the way Tenten danced. She had an ethereal quality to her movements that matched the music and made her dancing look completely effortless. It was like the music had leapt off the pages and had become somehow personified in this girl as she danced on the stage. He couldn't take his eyes off her and he wondered if he could feel something fluttering in his chest. It was deja vu all over again. Time seemed to halt once more like it had when he first became entranced by her at the bus stop. And it was then that Neji realised that he was well and truly screwed because he was head over heels for her.

* * *

Tenten couldn't help but laugh at Ino's expression when she had been ungracefully dropped on the floor and landed on her bottom. Kiba had become distracted. The boy tried to apologise but the blonde continued to hurl colourful and inventive insults at her dance partner, barely pausing to take a breath. Everyone moved from their position and formed a loose ring around the two to watch the entertainment unfold until Anko finally clapped her hands impatiently at her class.

"Right you maggots, what is the matter with you lot?! You're not dancing in unison, you need to listen to the beat and males, watch your partners and try to match them, they don't have eyes in the back of their heads!" she barked at them. Their instructor crossed her arms and glared at the class. "Haku and Tenten," she finally snapped.

They both stepped forward, wondering what they did wrong. "Yes Anko," they chimed in unison. Tenten and Haku both glanced at each other, trying not to laugh. They had been learning under Anko long enough to stop taking her seriously whenever she tried to instil some discipline.

"Can you both please show the others how it's meant to be done?" she sighed exasperatedly before starting the music they had been dancing to for the past hour.

Tenten loved dancing, in fact one could say that she lived for it. She loved the way it transported her to another place, away from everything in her life and allowed her to be whatever she wanted to be. She loved the moments when it felt like she was one with the music and the euphoria it gave her. If she ever stopped dancing, she didn't know what she would do.

She enjoyed dancing with Haku, they both worked well together because they had similar styles. It also helped that he was a fantastic dancer to dance with and he made her look good. Haku was such a lovely nice boy, and he was quite good looking now that he had finally grown into himself, it was just such a pity that he was gay.

Anko finally stopped them and made them demonstrate the correct way of doing a particularly difficult lift to the other couples a few times before giving them all a break. Haku put her down on her feet, they were both breathing heavily and she needed a drink. Tenten walked over to the side of the stage and picked up her water bottle. Her dance partner followed closely behind her, "Hey who's that guy sitting at the back with Hanabi?"

She turned around and spotted Hanabi and Neji sitting. Hanabi waved happily at her and Tenten couldn't help but wave back. Hinata's little sister was so cute. Neji was sitting with his arms folded across his chest looking solemn as usual but she thought she imagined him crack a tiny smile at her. "Oh that's Neji, Hinata's cousin," she told Haku.

"He's quite the hottie isn't he, he's like… sex on legs," Haku whispered into her ear as she continued to drink her water.

Tenten nearly choked and she swatted at her partner. "You're terrible, you're already seeing somebody!"

* * *

As soon as the break started, Lee spotted him and had charged over. "Neji my rival! What are you doing here? Do you plan on taking up dancing?" This caused Hanabi to break out in a fit of giggles.

Neji pressed his lips together firmly and scowled. "No, Hanabi dragged me along to watch," he replied curtly.

"Oh, I see, that was very youthful of her, it is good that she is observing and learning from the older dancers." Lee continued on in this vein about youth for a while but Neji was no longer listening to him, he was observing Haku and Tenten. They looked so comfortable with each other, he wondered if there was something going on between the two of them or whether he was just being paranoid and jealous.

Kiba approached them cautiously, the boy looked rather worried. "Hey Neji, what are you doing here?"

Why was everybody asking him the same question repeatedly, he thought to himself irritably. "Hanabi dragged me along, she wanted to watch," he replied flatly.

Lee finally wandered off to harass Anko to give him pointers on how to improve his technique. Kiba looked around to check that no one else was around, it was just him, Neji and Hanabi but she didn't really count. "Hey Neji, can you not tell anyone that I dance?" he asked rather sheepishly.

Neji smirked, "Hn, as long as you don't piss me off. Why do you dance anyway?"

The younger boy blushed and looked even more embarrassed and muttered, "My mum forced me to, it's supposed to make me more gentlemanly."

Neji winced, that explained everything. Kiba's mum was the scariest woman, even scarier than Shikamaru's mum. It also explained why, whenever there was a school dance, Kiba had such good moves on the dance floor.

* * *

Everyone was exhausted when they arrived home. They ended up having Ino's salad for dinner since it involved the least amount of preparation. The girls were planning on watching chick flicks and musicals whilst pigging out on junk food that night. It made his stomach queasy just thinking about all that, he didn't have much of a sweet tooth. As soon as dinner was over, Neji retreated to his room as he usually did.

* * *

Neji had been playing Counter-Strike with Sasuke and Naruto over the internet when he heard knocking on his door. "What?"

His door opened and Tenten poked her head into his room. "Hey, I brought you some ice-cream for dessert."

He quickly hit the pause button before spinning around in his chair to face her, rather embarrassed that his crush had caught him gaming. Well it wasn't anything he should be ashamed about but it wasn't exactly the type of thing that impressed girls. "Thanks," he muttered.

She walked into his room, uninvited, with his bowl of ice-cream and her own. "So what are you doing?" she asked curiously peering at the computer screen after handing him his ice-cream.

"Um, playing Counter-Strike," he mumbled. Why did his ice-cream have sprinkles all over it and a chocolate smiley face?

"Oh cool, is it the game where you run around shooting people?" she asked before spooning some of her ice-cream into her mouth.

"Yeah," Neji looked doubtfully at his ice-cream before taking a tentative bite.

"Can I have a go?"

He swallowed and gave her a confused look, "If you really want…"

Tenten took over his chair and he bent over to show her the keys to use. He couldn't help but be very aware of their very close proximity.

* * *

She actually quite enjoyed playing computer games. Her father had treated her as his substitute son since she was the only child and had given her a Nintendo game cube which they would play whenever he was home. Unfortunately that was rare and she didn't enjoy playing by herself. Tenten almost shivered as Neji's long hair brushed her cheek when he leant over to show her which keys to use. Why did he have to look so good? It made it so much harder to think of him in a purely platonic way.

He finally let her start playing and she saw two soldiers running in front of her. She took aim and was about to shoot when he quickly stopped her. "That's Sasuke and Naruto, they're on our team don't shoot them."

"Oh, right," Tenten giggled before continuing to run wildly all over the place and randomly shooting at things. Sasuke being a gamer as well was a bit of a surprise to her. In fact none of the boys really struck her as the gaming type but she supposed she shouldn't assume that gamers were all horn-rimmed spectacle wearing geeks hiding behind their computer screens 24/7.

Font appeared at the top of her screen. _Dude, what's wrong with you?_ Sasuke demanded to know. Tenten was shooting a wooden crate for no reason.

"Ok, that's enough, you're ruining my street cred," grumbled Neji before logging off the game.

'I hardly got to play!" she whined.

Neji ignored her and sat himself on the foot of his bed, making himself comfortable before digging into his melting ice-cream. "Shouldn't you be doing girly things with the girls?"

"Yeah well they kept being immature and annoying me so I decided to come join you in hiding," she replied with mock seriousness. She licked her ice-cream spoon clean.

"Welcome to The Haven," he said dryly.

There was a pause before Tenten commented mildly, "I never knew you, Sasuke and Naruto were the gaming types."

"Well we don't go to parties in our spare time so what else are we supposed to do?"

"Well you could play board games?" suggested Tenten.

He gave her a rather incredulous look. That was slightly lame even by his standards. "It's no point, Shikamaru would win every game so it wouldn't be any fun. He's already the National Chess Champion for his age group," pointed out Neji.

Tenten raised her eyebrows, "Really? He's a Chess Champion? I had no idea, he's so lazy."

"Lazy has nothing to do with it being smart. He's a genius, he has an IQ of 200 but he just doesn't want to use it." Neji finished his ice-cream.

Both teenagers turned towards the door when they heard soft knocking. Neji opened the door and Hinata peeked into the room. "Tenten, we were wondering what happened to you," she said softly. A suspiciously knowing smile was growing on her face as she took in the fact that Neji had willingly let a girl into his room, especially as it was one that was not related to him! Her cousin gave her a warning glare as the two girls left his room but Hinata ignored it. After having been on the receiving end of his glares for years she had developed an immunity to them. She wondered when she would have the opportunity to discuss Tenten with her cousin… Tenten would probably help loosen Neji up a little bit.

* * *

**A/N: Please review, it'll make my day!**


	6. Bonding, rain and pancakes

**I know, I know I took an extremely long time to update but a lot of things have been happening in real life after all my exams finished. Like I actually did stuff during my holidays and had a life. Now I'm back at uni and I am going to be honest, the updates aren't going to be churned out regularly because fanfic is no longer a priority for me but they will come eventually. **

**Thank you very much to everyone for sticking with this story even though I am terrible with updating. I hope you like this chapter. Not very much happens in it as usual. I think the next few chapters may get more angsty so enjoy the happier stuff while you can.**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto. If I did, I wouldn't be at uni studying.**

* * *

**Bonding over rain and pancakes:**

The house was quiet, the older girls were at rehearsal all day today so it was just him and Hanabi at home. Neji didn't mind too much, he liked his solitude and it gave him a chance to start reading the books Tenten had lent him. He had almost chuckled out loud a few times as he ploughed through the pages of the first book. It was sharp, irreverent and had a fairly decent storyline to boot. Neji quite liked Discworld in fact, and he had almost finished the novel already. Hanabi knocked on his door, "Neji I'm hungry, what's for lunch?"

Neji realised that he was starving as well. He put the book down and went down to the kitchen before rummaging through the fridge. "What do you want Hanabi? There's leftover pizza or you can have a sandwich or cereal."

"Cereal for lunch?" she pulled a face. "That's just weird."

"It's not weird," he told her as seriously as he could. Yes he was being lazy and didn't want to go to too much effort. Perhaps he had been hanging around Shikamaru for too long. He also didn't particularly care if he warped his cousin's sense of normalcy in the process either. "It fills you up and it is a very easy meal to make."

Hanabi continued to stare at him with a doubtful expression on her face, "Can I have a peanut butter sandwich?"

Some things never change, Neji thought to himself. Even though he could no longer sit Hanabi in front of a Disney movie whenever he babysat her and had to resort to sitting her in front of his PS2 and letting her play Kingdom Hearts, she would always want a peanut butter sandwich for lunch and a glass of cold Milo. He missed the simplicity of life when he had been her age. Adolescence was annoying. Neji suddenly reached out and ruffled Hanabi's head in a rare show of affection.

"Neji!" she whinged and pulled his hand off in protest.

* * *

Neji had been playing Tekken with Hanabi when his mobile phone rang. He was kicking her butt of course, he didn't believe in going easy on her. It was an unfamiliar number showing up on the screen. "Hello," he said curtly.

"Hi Neji, it's me," Hinata's soft voice said sheepishly. "I ran out of credit so I'm using Tenten's phone."

"Hn."

"Well I was calling to let you know that you don't have to pick me, Sakura and Ino up this afternoon from rehearsal because we were going to catch the bus and do some shopping on our way home."

"Ok what about Tenten?" Neji asked, wondering why she wasn't going home with the other girls. He could hear some muffled voices in the background.

"Hey Neji it's Tenten," her voice rang clearly over the phone. "I have extra rehearsals so I won't be coming back until much later so don't worry about me, I think Haku can give me a lift home."

Haku? He thought morosely. "If you do need a lift home, just give me a call, it won't be a problem," Neji told her.

He could almost hear the smile in her voice. "Thanks Neji, see you later," she replied sweetly before hanging up.

Hanabi turned to him curiously. "Neji? Why did your voice change at the end?"

He frowned at her, "What are you talking about?"

"You had your special voice on… like when Hinata or Dad say 'I love you' or 'Good night' to me before they tuck me in," she pointed out.

Neji froze inside, was he that transparent nowadays? Oh no, did Tenten think he was some lovesick puppy who followed her around? "You're imagining things," he told his cousin sternly.

Hanabi shrugged and they returned back to their game wordlessly.

* * *

Neji tried to creep down the stairs quietly. It was still quite dark in the early morning and he had been feeling restless all night. He needed to go for a run to clear his head, especially of her. Tenten had come back quite late and then gone straight to bed. He had instead spent most of the night brooding and wondering whether she was going out with Haku or not. He hated how agitated he had become over a girl; he had never thought he'd be the type. He was Hyuuga Neji, cool, calm and collected, not the fireworks and passion type at all.

He could hear the TV playing softly. Probably Hanabi waking up early to watch cartoons as usual. As he walked past quietly, he realised that it was Tenten watching highlights of last night's basketball game between the Konoha ANBU and the Akatsuki that she missed. She swore softly as the TV showed footage of Uchiha Itachi scoring yet again for the Akatsuki after defecting from the Konoha ANBU.

Neji watched her for a second silently. Her messy tousled hair pulled into a ponytail hung down her elegant dancer's neck. Any minute now, she might turn around and see him, he should leave. He turned away from her and took a step but it was too late. Something alerted her to his presence and she turned around to face him with a look of guilt on her face. "Hey Neji, what are you doing up so early?"

He wondered what she was guilty about briefly. Staying out so late with Haku, he thought sourly. "I could ask you the same question," he replied monotously.

"I woke up early and I didn't want to wake the others up so I came down to watch TV when I probably wasn't supposed to…" she told him sheepishly. Tenten eyed his attire and the pair of running shoes he had in his hand. "Are you going for a run?"

Neji nodded.

She grinned at him, "Can I come too? Just give me a second to change I'll be right down." Tenten ran quietly up the stairs and disappeared from view.

He swore quietly and sagged against the back of the couch. All these feelings of longing to be with her and his survival instinct to push her away were warring inside of him with renewed vigour once again. What had happened to him?

* * *

She breathed evenly as their feet pounded along the pavement in unison. The crisp cold air rushed against her face and Tenten breathed it in more deeply. Neji was silent beside her. He had been quieter and seemed rather withdrawn this morning and she was starting to wonder if she should have even invited herself along for the run in the first place. Maybe he just wasn't a morning person. She glanced at him out of the corner of her eye and he seemed deep in thought. She wondered what was bothering him. It couldn't possibly be anything at school or home could it? Maybe it was about a girl. She felt a slight pang of jealousy but she roughly shoved that aside.

Tenten had missed going for runs, it had been a while since she had as she just seemed to be breathing dancing and rehearsals for the past week or so. It always had made her feel slightly more alive in the mornings when the rest of the world seemed to be still asleep. The dawn sky was grey but she figured that it would probably clear soon. Unfortunately the weather thought otherwise and there was a flash of lightning followed by a clap of thunder. Rain suddenly began pouring down and both Neji and Tenten were getting soaked.

"Crap," they both said in unison.

Neji turned to head back the way they had come but Tenten impulsively grabbed his hand without thinking and dragged him in a different direction. "My place is near here, we can take cover there until the rain stops!" She began running, pulling him along with her. The rain continued to pelt down hard on them. Thank goodness she wasn't wearing white or else everything would have gone see through by now but Neji was wearing a white shirt that clung to his broad shoulders…

Tenten mentally slapped herself. She really had to stop perving on Neji. He wasn't just a nice piece of eye-candy; he was her friend and so much more than just a hot guy. He was everything she could want in a guy and more. Brains, sensitivity, humour, maturity, sanity, dreamy looks…body of a Greek God… Tenten tried to slap herself for real this time but suddenly realised she was holding on to Neji's hand. She dropped it like hot coals and blushed furiously. He was giving her a very odd, confused look. "Oh look my house is just there," she babbled and pointed. Tenten ran over to a small white house with overgrown vines creeping over the walls and made a flourishing motion with her hands.

* * *

Neji eyed the pink flamingo birdbath in the middle of the lawn and the many garden gnomes surrounding it doubtfully. Somehow it seemed quite out of place in the quiet well-to-do neighbourhood and was frankly, quite hideous. She noticed him eyeing her father's garden feature and laughed, "Yeah it's pretty horrible but Dad doesn't like the neighbours so he keeps it there to annoy them."

"Your Dad sounds like a charming fellow," he replied dryly and inwardly cringed when he realised that he just insulted Tenten's father.

She let out a peal of laughter, "Oh my Dad sure can be charming alright, and he keeps pestering me to have loud parties while he's away on business trips to irritate the neighbours even more. But only when he's away because he doesn't want to have to clean up the mess."

He chuckled, his uncle Hiashi was the complete opposite.

Tenten let them both into the house. It was empty and a bit messy. Neji looked around curiously; it was cluttered with all kinds of exotic items from other countries. There was also a rather impressive weapons collection hanging on the wall. Tenten winced as she looked around the house, both of them were dripping water everywhere. "There's a shower you can use if you go up the stairs and down the end of the hall. I'll get you some of my Dad's stuff to borrow while I put your stuff in the dryer." She handed him a towel and herded him up the stairs.

When he came out, dressed in her father's old polo shirt and slacks, she still hadn't come out of her shower. Neji wasn't too sure what to do with the towel she had given him. He caught sight of himself in the mirror and pulled a face, he looked like his uncle in those clothes which were a little too big for him. Neji took a closer look at the weapons collection; there were all kinds of swords, shields, knives and daggers, spears, a bow and arrow and even a boomerang. Was a boomerang even a weapon? It was just a curved stick with complicated dot painting decorating it. A sword with a dragon curving down its blade caught his eye and he reached out hesitantly to touch the gleaming metal. It was very sharp, he realised as he examined the broken skin on his finger.

"Yeah be careful when you touch them," Tenten said suddenly behind him.

Neji turned around sheepishly, "I realised." He held up his finger for her to inspect and she just shook her head wryly at him.

"My Dad likes to buy me weapons from different countries as a present whenever he comes back from his trips."

"Most fathers usually buy their daughters dolls or something harmless…" Neji pointed out.

"Well I much prefer these, I always used to pull the heads off my dolls. These are much harder to wreck," Tenten murmured as she stroked the dragon sword lovingly.

"Do you actually know how to use that?" he asked her.

She grinned at him, "Of course, I used to do martial arts training until I became more serious about dance."

Neji made a mental note to himself not to get on her bad side. An awkward silence followed until he suddenly blurted out, "I used to do Taichi."

Tenten made a strange choking noise like she was trying to stifle her laughter before coughing politely. "Taichi? That's really interesting but why Taichi? That's for old people, I mean my grandparents do Taichi!"

"It's not just for old people," he replied defensively. "Anyway I don't really do it now because I don't have time."

"I'm sorry I didn't mean to laugh," she apologised. "It's just not something you'd expect a young person to do, let alone you."

He raised an eyebrow at her, "why does it surprise you so much that I used to do Taichi?"

"It's because you're one of those cool, popular guys at school…" she suddenly looked flustered. "I mean, guys like you are supposed to play football and party and date the skanky popular girls," she continued to babble. Tenten then flushed with embarrassment.

Neji tried to digest what she had just said and smirked, "You think I'm one of those cool, popular guys?"

"W-well you seem the type," she mumbled and suddenly found the ground very interesting.

"Well…looks can be deceiving," he smirked with amusement. "I never thought of myself as one of those but I suppose my mates and I are jocks."

Tenten finally looked up and met his amused gaze squarely and smiled at him. "I guess you're right about looks being deceiving, I mean any self-respecting popular jock wouldn't game or nerd as much as you." Her teasing smile widened and he couldn't help but smile back at her.

He threw his wet towel at her, which she caught laughing, "I'll get you back for that."

* * *

"So what's the weirdest thing you have ever done?" Tenten asked him as they sat in her kitchen eating the pancakes they had made for breakfast.

Neji pondered for a moment as he chewed, "Well when Hinata and I were little, she made these really nice looking play-doh cupcakes and I ate all of them. I actually didn't mind the taste too much at the time. After that I puked all over her favourite teddy and she cried for ages and got me into trouble."

She giggled, "That's terrible, poor Hinata."

"Poor Hinata? What about me? I was feeling so sick after that and I got punished as well!" Tenten continued laughing for a while until he asked her, "So what's the weirdest thing you've ever done?"

"I'm sure I've done something but I can't think of anything at the moment," she poured honey over her pancakes and spread it with her knife. "Oh I know! When I was little, I used to really hate wearing clothes for some reason so when I was in kindergarten, I decided to take off everything I was wearing one day and the teachers had to chase me around the playground."

Neji laughed, "That's great. I wish I went to your Kindy, that would have been hilarious to see!"

"Okay, now what is your greatest fear?"

He sobered up and thought for a while. He wasn't really scared of heights, insects or things like that. "I'm scared of…getting close to somebody and then losing them," Neji finally said quietly. It was true, it was the thing he feared the most after his parents which was why he tended to keep everyone at a distance. Now he was afraid of becoming too close to Tenten.

Tenten was giving him a sympathetic look. "I'm sorry, I've heard about your parents. I shouldn't have asked that question."

Neji shook his head, "It's alright it's all in the past and you didn't know what my answer was going to be. Anyway, it's your turn now."

"Cockroaches," she told him empathetically.

He raised an eyebrow at her, "But they aren't even poisonous. They're completely harmless!"

"They just gross me out okay, I can't stand those things," she whined. Tenten suddenly looked out of the window. "Hey it finally stopped raining."

Neji followed her gaze. The clouds had cleared and the sun was shining outside quite brightly. "I guess it's time we got back then," he murmured.

* * *

**A/N:** Please review, I love reading them and they do motivate me to update a bit faster...


	7. Misinterpretations

Haha um sorry I took so long to update. Life and study got a bit hectic and I"m still trying to catch up. Finals are coming up in about a months time already and I still have a ton of assignments so I shall probably be hiding under a rock again soon... but then again that might mean I"ll procrastinate more and maybe churn out another update. To make it up to all of you, this chapter is extra long. I was rather shocked at the length myself so sorry if there's mistakes all over the place cos I was too lazy to proof it. But please enjoy it anyway.

I thought I might dedicate this chapter to one of my fave reviewers MuseiKage. I had been meaning to for a while. I'm sorry this took so long!

**Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto. Never have, never will unless I can somehow infiltrate Kishimoto's family and convince him to leave me the rights in his will... highly unlikely, sadly.**

* * *

**Misinterpretations**

His little cousin was restless. She kept glancing towards the front door, waiting eagerly for her father to return from his business trip. All three of them had ended up sitting in front of the TV watching some documentary about pandas while waiting. Hinata and Hanabi kept cooing at the screen every time a baby panda appeared, which happened to be 95 percent of the time. Neji was getting tired of his cousins' reactions. Sure they were cute animals but all they did was eat bamboo and sleep. Although they did remind him of a certain girl…

The doorbell rang.

Hanabi jumped up immediately and ran to the door. "Daddy!" she shrieked with delight.

Hiashi had finally returned. He had caught a taxi from the airport. Neji and Hinata dragged themselves off the couch to greet him.

"Hello father, how was your flight?" Hinata greeted him politely.

"Long,"came the curt reply. The tall dark haired man looked tired.

"Uncle," Neji simply said, before helping the man with his luggage.

Hiashi patted Hanabi's shoulder as he strode into the house. He glanced around and gave a crooked smile. "I see the house is still in one piece. Have you kids eaten yet?"

"Yes we have, did you get dinner on the plane? Do you want me to heat something up for you?" Hinata asked him quickly.

"I had something, don't worry Hinata."

Hinata gave him a concerned look. "Are you not feeling well?"

"Just a migraine, nothing an aspirin and some sleep won't fix," he gave his eldest daughter a tired smile.

"But Dad! You have to get well! Our dance concert is tomorrow and you HAVE to come watch!" exclaimed Hanabi.

"I wouldn't miss it for the world," he murmured and gave the little girl a kiss on the forehead. "Are you going to come with me and keep me company in the audience this time Neji?" he asked his nephew amusedly.

Neji shrugged, "I have nothing better to do these holidays."

* * *

The lights came back on after the last of the junior dancers dance finished and conversation began to buzz in the hall. Neji had found it slightly alarming at how much makeup some of the little girls were wearing. In his opinion it had been far too much considering that most of them were under the age of 12. There had also been a little boy who had spent most of the performance not actually dancing his part and had instead, stood to the side, near the front of the stage, diligently picking his nose. But other than that, the little children were quite cute and he had enjoyed Hanabi's class's routine. It was now interval and it would soon be Hinata's class's turn.

"Do you need to stretch your legs? There's some snacks and drinks out in the foyer," his uncle told him.

Neji nodded and they both strolled out of the hall. Dance students were swarming outside in their costumes and makeup, most of them girls. He spotted Tenten immediately; he hadn't seen her these holidays since Hinata's slumber party. She was talking animatedly to Lee, Hinata and Sakura. They were all dressed in matching white outfits.

Lee spotted him and waved excitedly. "Neji! You came to support us!" his voice boomed across the room.

Neji crossed the room to join them. "Hey," he said quietly, pushing his hands into his jeans pockets. The girls turned around and Tenten gave him a sweet smile. She looked gorgeous in the simple white dress but then again, she looked gorgeous in everything.

"How are you finding your first dance school concert?" teased Hinata.

"My highlight was the kid picking his nose in the last routine," he replied dryly.

Tenten giggled, "He did that last year as well."

Hinata shook her head smiling, "I'd better go save Father, one of the mothers are hitting on to him again."

Neji shot a glanced at his uncle and tried not to smirk. Hiashi was nodding politely as a buxom woman with far too much makeup and jewellery batted her eyelashes at him and flirted. The older man looked bored and when Hinata finally interrupted their conversation, an expression of relief flashed across his face.

Ino suddenly appeared behind Sakura, "Hey Sakura, your mum wants you. She wants to take pictures."

The pink haired girl groaned, "Again? Don't tell me all the pictures she took were blurry." She and Ino left and began to make their way through the crowd.

Lee quickly followed the pair, "Wait for me Sakura! Do you need me to help take photos for you?" he called after her hopefully.

Suddenly, Tenten and Neji were left alone.

Neji looked at his feet, feeling rather shy all of the sudden. "Lee couldn't be more obvious could he?" he muttered, he really couldn't think of anything better to say.

"Well I think it's sweet, he even showed me some of the poetry he wrote for Sakura," Tenten protested.

He raised his head and an eyebrow at her, "Poetry? Are you serious?"

"Yes, he compared her to a lotus blossom of youth a lot."

Neji smirked, "Typical. He would be better off buying her chocolate."

Tenten sighed, "Some how I don't think anything he does will impress her because it's not from Sasuke."

He grunted in agreement. It was a pity what she said was true. Lee probably deserved Sakura more than Sasuke did, but he frankly wasn't as good looking as the moody Uchiha.

"You know what would really impress me," Tenten said almost dreamily.

"What?" Neji asked, his curiosity piqued. If he ever wanted a chance with her, he needed all the tips he could get and his friends were hopeless.

"If a guy serenaded me," the brunette girl continued.

Neji gulped and hoped desperately that he would never have to resort to doing that because singing was not he considered his forte. "But that just cuts out all the guys who don't sing which is the majority of them," he pointed out as objectively as he could.

Tenten pulled a face because there was some truth in that. "Well they don't have to sing particularly well, although it would be a bonus. It's the thought that counts, that a guy would be willing to put himself out there and risk humiliation and embarrassment in order to tell a girl how he really feels about her because it means that he's serious about it."

"Hey Tenten," came an unfamiliar male voice. Haku was suddenly standing next to her with a warm smile on his face, placing an arm around her shoulders casually and giving her a quick hug. "I was looking everywhere for you, Anko wants us to go get ready now." The older boy turned to Neji and smiled pleasantly, "Sorry I haven't introduced myself properly, how rude of me. I'm Haku, are you one of Tenten's friends?"

Neji controlled himself from scowling at the older boy. "Neji Hyuuga," he replied stiffly.

"Sorry I have to steal her away now, but it was nice to meet you!" the boy took Tenten's arm and begun steering her away into the crowd.

Tenten turned her head to look back at him with an apologetic smile, "Bye Neji, I'll see you around later."

The pale eyed boy simply stood and watched the pair leave with a sinking feeling of despair. It looked like Haku would constantly be stealing Tenten away from him. Why did he even get his hopes up in the first place, Tenten was this beautiful free spirit and he was just bland and plain uninteresting in comparison.

* * *

"Oh my gosh, he's so mysterious and brooding," Haku whispered to her in a low voice as he dragged her backstage. He suddenly paused and examined his dance partner carefully, "I wasn't interrupting anything was I?"

Tenten sighed, why did everyone keep asking her about Neji. He would have made a move if he really was interested but obviously he wasn't since he hadn't. "No we were just chatting. You know guys and girls can actually just be friends and nothing else, like you and me."

"But it's different with you and me, I'm gay!"

"It's not that different with straight guys. I have lots of platonic male friends at school, I mean I'm the only girl in my grade for crying out loud," grumbled Tenten.

"But does he have lots of female friends?" countered Haku with a wide grin. Her silence answered his question. "There you go Tenten, if you're his only female friend that means that you have more of a chance of going out with him than all the other girls that he doesn't talk to."

Tenten pondered over that for a while. "But what if he can't think of me as anything else but a friend? Then I'll have less than a chance than all the other girls," she replied slowly.

Haku placed both hands on her shoulders firmly. "Tenten, you're being all pessimistic and negative about this, what happened to the cool positive girl I knew?"

She shrugged him off, "Look, I just don't want to have to go through all this unnecessary stuff when I can simply avoid it."

The older boy opened his mouth to say something but then he was interrupted by the dulcet tones of their dance instructor. "Hey you both, stop gossiping and get on the stage!" bellowed Anko suddenly.

Haku wagged his finger at Tenten, "We'll discuss this later."

* * *

His eyes seemed to be constantly drawn towards Tenten and Haku that night on stage. Partially because he kept wondering if their onstage chemistry also continued offstage and partially because both of them were easily the best two dancers, at a level beyond the rest, even to his untrained eye. Neji slouched into his chair even further. They were dancing in a style Hanabi had informed him was contemporary. His younger cousin was watching intently and staying still for once. Hiashi's face was impassive as usual.

Her movements were like liquid honey, he thought to himself. It was almost unearthly the way she practically floated across the stage. She would easily make it as a professional dancer; she certainly had the passion for it as well. Haku was a brilliant dancer as well, he reluctantly admitted to himself. How could he even think to compete with a guy like him, especially since Haku had so much more in common with Tenten than he did?

Neji suddenly couldn't wait for the concert to be over.

* * *

It was chaotic out in the foyer with parents trying to find their children at the end of the concert. Tenten was standing off to one side feeling rather disappointed as she read a text on her phone. Her dad had messaged her apologising for not being able to watch her dance because his flight had been delayed. She would have to find her own way home since her mother was not an option either as she no longer lived in the same town since the divorce. She had really wanted her dad to watch her solos as well, and he had never missed one of her concerts before. Hinata came over to her to say goodbye.

"Hey Tenten where's your dad? Didn't he come?" asked Hinata worriedly.

"His flight got delayed two hours so I'll probably just get a taxi or something," the older girl mumbled.

"Do you want us to drop you home? You live quite close by?" the Hyuuga girl offered. She gave Tenten a shy smile and the brunette girl nodded, looking distracted.

Hinata took Tenten's hand and brought her to where her family was waiting for her. "Father, can we give Tenten a lift home please? Her father's flight was delayed."

Hiashi nodded calmly, "Where do you live Tenten?" When she replied he merely nodded again. "That's quite close by."

Neji's strange white eyes locked with hers for a moment that seemed to last forever before he looked away and shoved his hands into his pockets casually. Looking disinterested as he usually did. Tenten wondered what was going on in his mind, he suddenly seemed impenetrable tonight. She followed the Hyuugas to their car, Hanabi running ahead, wanting to sit in the front seat.

Tenten, Hinata and Neji piled into the backseat. He had opened the car door for her, his manners as impeccable as always. She climbed in and Hinata had already gone around to the other side of the car. Tenten suddenly found herself seated in between Hinata and Neji. As she fumbled with her seatbelt, her hands brushed Neji's accidentally. Tenten almost jumped and flushed furiously, glad that the darkness hid her face. Neji just shook his head slightly and buckled the seat belt for her. "Thanks," she laughed sheepishly. She couldn't believe how clumsy she was being around him.

The car ride home was quiet, everyone was too tired to talk. Hanabi had dozed off in the front whereas Hinata was busy texting, most probably Sakura or Ino. Tenten, on the other hand, couldn't help but be extremely aware of what close proximity she was in to Neji, she could practically feel the body heat emanating off him and her leg kept accidentally knocking his. Her stomach did a tiny flip each time. She wondered if there really was more to her friendship with Neji than she, herself, had realised. Perhaps she did have a tiny crush on him, but so did most other girls. But there were no guarantees that he would feel the same way. He wasn't exactly trying to woo her.

It was probably a phase she was going through, she decided. Nothing major right?

* * *

They were back at school. Kakashi sensei had asked Neji to read out a passage of the textbook. They were studying short stories this term. However, Tenten wasn't paying much attention for once, even though English was her favourite class. Her attention had been diverted to her handsome classmate as he continued to read, his low baritone sending her into a blissful reverie. She just enjoyed listening to him talk, it was soothing and there was this stillness about him that attracted her. Tenten mentally pinched herself; she really had to stop fantasising about Neji, especially in class, because it was really going to get her into trouble soon.

"Tenten, could you please read the next page," the grey haired teacher asked pointedly. His sharp, mismatched eyes had spotted her daydreaming.

"S-sorry Kakashi sensei, where are we up to?" she stammered, embarrassed that she had gotten caught.

"Page 106," he sighed. "Try to pay attention or you'll break your classmate's heart knowing that you weren't listening to him reading."

Neji's eye twitched while the rest of the class started sniggering.

The brunette girl turned a deep red, cleared her throat hurriedly and began reading. Her teacher had no idea how far from home he had hit.

* * *

"I never see you anymore, I've missed you!" Haku exclaimed when Tenten arrived in her school uniform at their meeting place in front of a quiet café.

"I missed our dance rehearsals too," she replied with a laugh, hugging the boy back. It was good to have a short break from dancing though because she wasn't sure how much longer her body could have kept up the harsh training regime Anko had imposed on top of school reopening. It was fine if she danced fulltime, but not while going to school as well. Besides, she had wanted to try out some new sports and extracurricular activities at her new school. She had also heard a rumour that Kurenai sensei was trying to organise a school musical. Unfortunately, there probably wasn't going to be enough female talent unless some of the boys were prepared to dress as girls and sing in falsetto…

"So how's life, what's been happening at school, tell me all about it," Haku demanded. They were both sitting in one of the back booths sharing a bowl of chips and drinking iced chocolate.

"Well school's pretty much the same I'm pretty settled in but I thought of getting involved in more activities now," she replied offhandedly. "How about you? How have your auditions for all those dance companies been going and how's work?" Haku had graduated from school last year and had been working, dancing and basically taking time out to figure out what he wanted to do with his life.

"Well there are two companies I'm quite hopeful about because they liked my audition, they should be getting back to me soon and work is good. I'm getting a bit sick of the clothes shop, the new manager isn't very nice but the music shop is still awesome."

"Oh that's good, good luck with the call-back," Tenten smiled at her friend. It was only a matter of time before he was snapped up by a dance company; she was going to miss her dance partner. "I'm going have to come buy clothes soon while I can still hijack your staff discount," she continued with a grin.

"You cheapskate," laughed Haku.

"So how's Zabuza by the way?"

"Oh he's good, still being a bouncer. You know if you ever wanted to come clubbing with me, he'd let you in," Haku winked at her.

"I don't want to be a lamp post to you and Zabuza, you just want something to dance with so you don't look like a total loser by yourself on the dance floor," she retorted.

"Well he doesn't dance!"

Tenten rolled her eyes, Haku was more of a girl than she was sometimes.

"So how are your parents? Have you been seeing your Mum much?"

She stirred her drink, "Dad's good, always away on business trips as usual and Mum's somewhere travelling overseas with her new boyfriend. She sent me a postcard a month after my birthday and that's been about it."

"You really need a pet…"

"I had a cat but it died."

"…or a boyfriend to keep you company. Speaking of which… are you still hanging out with Neji much these days?" the older boy asked with an evil glint in his eyes.

Tenten glared at him, "If you like him so much, why don't you go out with him yourself."

"Well he's pretty but I'm supposed to be the pretty one in the relationship and you can't have two pretty guys in a relationship. Anyway I'm perfectly happy with Zabuza, he's so ruggedly handsome…" Haku trailed off with a slightly dreamy smile.

She snorted, "Okay please do not continue down that path, I don't want to hear all your gory details."

Haku stuck out his bottom lip at her and tried to give her his best puppy dog look.

She flicked his nose.

"Ouch, that was mean Tenten."

"You deserved it, and to answer your question, I've only seen him in class and that's all."

"Then start hanging out with him outside of school. Throw a party and invite him, dress up in a hot little number and bang you've got yourself one of the hottest guys in school."

She gave him a warning glare, "Haku… stop trying to get me to g-"

"You're in love with him and you're in denial Tenten," he interrupted her mid-sentence, chin propped up on his hand.

"No I'm no-"

"Yes, you are." He told her firmly. "I've seen the way you act when you're around him, you're more flustered and you blush more even though you hide it well. I know you Tenten."

She remained silent, not sure how to respond to that because her gut feeling told her that Haku was right.

"And he is such a babe, it doesn't hurt to try your luck with him." Haku suddenly stopped and suddenly grabbed her shoulder and hissed, "Speak of the devil he just came in with his friends."

Tenten instinctively started turning around but Haku jerked her shoulder forwards, "No don't look don't be so obvious. Act normal okay."

She was very confused, if she was the one who supposedly had the big crush, why was Haku acting like this?

"Is it obvious?" Haku asked her quickly, pointing at his chin. "Of all the days, today is the day I had to get a huge pimple!" he moaned.

That explained everything… Tenten stared at his chin, there was barely anything there and she hadn't noticed it at all until he had pointed it out himself.

"Okay we're leaving now, act casual okay."

She almost yelped as Haku pulled her up unceremoniously from her seat. "But I haven't finished my iced chocolate!"

"I'll buy you another one next time but I absolutely cannot let him see me with a huge pimple today," Haku growled at her.

"I thought I was the one who's supposed to be trying to impress him," she muttered. It looked a lot more like Haku was the one with the huge crush.

"Hey Tenten," Neji suddenly said from behind her and she jumped. "Haku," he added flatly.

"Neji," she said forcing a smile across her face. "You have to stop sneaking up on me. How are you?"

"Alright."

Haku put a hand on her waist and pulled her in front of him strategically to hide his chin from view. "I'm so sorry but we were just leaving. We'll see you around another time and you should try the chips here, they're really good," Haku babbled before dragging the brunette girl out with him. Tenten struggled to keep the smile on her face as she waved and wondered how many ways she could kill Haku once they left the café.

* * *

He had been avoiding her and trying to distance himself away from her. But such a feat was difficult when she was in almost every single one of his classes and was good friends with his best friend, Lee. The boys had decided to grab some food after their basketball training. Well it was more Chouji's idea and the other boys were going along with it. "Hey Chouji, how about this café, I can't be bothered walking any further," grumbled Shikamaru.

Naruto pulled a face when he saw the prices on the menu, "That's too expensive! I'm going to go get some ramen!"

Sasuke, Kiba, Shino and Lee looked at the menu as well and decided to follow the blonde's lead. Sasuke had a tendency to follow his best friend around everywhere and the other boys didn't want to spend their money either.

Chouji took one look at the menu, shrugged and went in. Neji and Shikamaru followed him in wordlessly. Both of them usually ended up not eating anything and watching Chouji put away a rather incredible amount of food. Watching Chouji pig out was a small price to pay for peace and quiet. Neji sighed as Chouji poured over the menu trying to decide to eat. He wasn't hungry. "I don't want anything, I'll go get a table for us," he informed the other two boys.

His eyes glanced around the room quickly and he spotted an empty booth near the back of the café. As he approached it, he realised that the two occupants at the booth next to it were very familiar indeed. In fact it was Tenten and Haku and they both looked quite cosy, as if they were on a date. Something inside broke and Neji was pretty sure it might have been his heart. There had been, after all, a tiny glimmer of hope that maybe Tenten didn't already have a boyfriend.

They were standing up to leave and were about to walk past him. "Hey Tenten," he suddenly found himself saying. "Haku," he added stiffly as an afterthought.

Tenten spun around and smiled at him. "Neji, you have to stop sneaking up on me," she laughed. "How are you?"

"Alright," he replied monotously. His eyes flickered towards Haku who suddenly put an arm around her waist and pulled her close.

"I'm so sorry but we were just leaving," The older boy interrupted. "We'll see you around another time and you should try the chips here, they're really good." With that, the boy swept out of the café with Tenten in tow.

"Ouch," Shikamaru commented dryly from behind Neji.

"What," snapped Neji. He was suddenly in a foul mood.

"Look it might just be one of those really non-serious highschool relationships," the other boy offered rather unhelpfully.

"Who says I even liked her in the first place," Neji mumbled.

"Whatever you say," shrugged Shikamaru nonchalantly. "But you know what, my parents are going to be away for the weekend so Ino is making me throw a belated joint birthday for me and her at my place. I know where my Dad keeps his stash of alcohol so you can get completely wasted."

After weeks of pretending nothing was affecting him and throwing himself into studying and basketball training, Neji did need a break. It wouldn't hurt to let loose every once in a while either. "I'll be there, it's your birthday after all," he replied quietly.

"There is a slight catch though," said Shikamaru as he leant back against the wall.

Neji's eyes narrowed.

"Ino wanted it to be themed."

"I'm not dressing up."

"Look it's not that bad, and she let me pick the theme as well."

"Good for you Nara, you're finally starting to assert your rights in your relationship with her," Neji replied sarcastically.

"It's just easier to give in to her okay. Her nagging is almost as bad as my Mum's," retorted Shikamaru a tad too defensively.

"Hn. Good thing you guys are just friends, if you were going out it would be a hundred times worse."

"Tell me about it, she's troublesome. Look do you want to know what the theme is or not? If you don't dress up, Ino will kill you," growled Shikamaru.

"Spit it out Nara," Neji said rubbing his eyes tiredly.

"Cosplay."

* * *

**A/N: Duh duh duhhhhh. Next chapter will be more fun for me to write because we're finally going to get to the story moving yay!**

Is it just me or is this slowly becoming more trashy highschool? I think I've been watching too much 90210... Well hopefully people still like this. 

_**Please leave me a review and make my day!**_


	8. Party like there's no tomorrow

Apologies for the long overdue update. Got pretty busy with studying for exams but now that I am on holidays I guess there is no excuse for more regular updates now... AND a big big Thank you to all my reviewers, especially the regular ones who have stuck with me despite my terrible updating tendencies.

Hope you all enjoy this chapter!

**Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto characters, I do not own any of the other anime characters from other animes mentioned either. **

* * *

**Party like there's no tomorrow**

"That sucks that you can't make it to Ino's birthday," sighed Tenten, resting her chin on one hand as she stirred the remainder of her milkshake with a pink plastic straw. She and Haku were sitting in another café catching up once again.

"Zabuza is taking me to see my favourite artist play that night," he replied and shrugged, "So who else is going?"

"Well us girls and boys from dancing. Ino was also going to invite some of her other friends from Suna, most of them used to go to Konoha Girls Grammar with us. The other birthday boy, Shikamaru, he's having all his friends and he's friends with Lee, Kiba and Sai as well. "

"Does this mean Neji will be there?" Haku asked slyly.

Tenten kicked him under the table sharply.

He winced and changed the subject. "So what are you going to dress up as?"

"Well," said Tenten slowly, "I was actually thinking of going as Mei Chan from Full Metal Alchemist because her buns and outfit would be quite easy to do." She gave him a wide grin. It was a fantastic idea, she knew she could pull off Mei Chan really well.

Haku just stared at her incredulously.

"What?" her grin faded.

"You're pulling my leg right?" Haku asked her slowly and when she gave him a confused look his jaw fell open in horror. "I am not letting you go to a big school party dressed as that! If you do I will disown you!"

"But what's wrong with Mei Chan? She's cute and has a mini panda!" grumbled Tenten. She had been quite excited about the idea.

"She's not hot! That is not going to impress Neji at all!"

"Then what, I go dressed as a slut?" Tenten replied waspishly.

"Well, yeah, but with class," Haku informed her sagely.

Tenten just stared at him incredulously, unsure of how to respond to that… but one thing for sure, she was not going to ask him for serious relationship advice anytime soon.

"Tenten, I have an excellent idea of which character you could go as," he suddenly piped up. His eyes gleamed with excitement.

"Who?" she asked suspiciously. Haku got some pretty crazy out there ideas sometimes and she didn't know if she could trust him.

He made a zipping motion over his lips, "Trust me, when Neji sees you it'll totally knock him out."

Tenten gave him a hard stare, "Why should I trust you?"

"Who catches you for every jump and is always there for every lift for dancing?" he countered.

She continued eyeing him suspiciously and finally nodded. Ok perhaps Mei Chan was a tad juvenile "Ok fine, just this once. But it'd better be good or else I will hurt you."

* * *

"Tenten! You look fantastic!" exclaimed Ino over the blaring music.

Tenten smiled awkwardly at the blonde girl who had dressed up as SailorMoon. She wasn't sure how keen she was on Haku's creation herself as she was in serious danger of having a wardrobe malfunction because the dress was _that_ low-cut. "Wow, lots of people are here already, do you need me to do anything?"

Ino shook her head, "Nope, it's all ready. Just drink and have fun!" She took a swig from her vodka mix and pulled Tenten with her to the living room where more people were gathered.

They stopped for a moment when they found Kiba and Sai mixing strange alcoholic concoctions in the kitchen. "Hey Tenten, looking good," Kiba told her cheerfully with a thumbs up. He was dressed as Hisagi and Sai had come as Ishida from Bleach. Kiba had even brought Akamaru along and managed to tie a ribbon around his dog's neck. "Here, try this, it's really nice." The spiky haired boy handed her a blue coloured cocktail drink. "I call it 'the Liver Lover'!"

Tenten took it, eyed the drink doubtfully before shrugging her shoulders and taking a sip. She nearly spat it out, "Kiba! Does this contain anything else besides alcoholic shots?!"

Kiba looked thoughtful, "I can't really remember."

"You added in some energy drink," Sai pointed out helpfully. Tenten sighed and walked away with the drink.

"I'll be back for one!" Ino told them with a gleeful grin before catching up with her guest.

"I only put in about a tablespoon of energy drink didn't I?" Kiba asked Sai once the girls were out of earshot.

* * *

Neji had been sitting on the couch for half an hour, stonily glaring at everybody else. It was slightly quieter in the living room. Outside, too many girls had been approaching him and he had icily made it clear to them that he was not interested but none of them seemed to be taking the not so subtle hint. There had even been two girls who had fought over who could sit on his lap. He had escaped into the house during their argument and prayed that they would forget him in their drunken stupor.

Hinata sat next to him nervously poking her fingers together, she had had to do a lot of cajoling to convince him to actually dress-up. Now that they were at the party she had been so excited about, she had turned into a shy wallflower. Both of them had somehow ended up dressed as Rukia and Byakuya Kuchiki. It had been Naruto's fault, he had picked out a Bleach character for everyone except Ino, Sakura and Tenten who had told him that they already had organised their own costumes. Sakura, in her Princess Sakura outfit from Tsubasa Chronicles, was sitting on another couch looking nonplussed as Lee, dressed as the arrancar Pesche, continually tried to strike up a conversation with her. Neji felt bad for his friend, but at least Lee had the guts to try whereas he didn't. He finished his beer and sighed.

"Is something the matter Neji?" his cousin asked quietly. "You've seemed a bit down lately." Her pale eyes fixed on him concernedly.

He blinked at her and wiped his face of any expression. "I'm fine Hinata."

The look on her face told him plainly that she didn't believe him but she remained silent.

"Hey everyone," Ino's voice rang out loudly. He turned towards the doorway and nearly dropped his beer bottle. Thank goodness it was empty. Neji's breath hitched in his chest as he stared at Lust from Full Metal Alchemist standing at the door with a blue cocktail in her hand next to Sailor Moon.

"Tenten you look so hot!" squealed Sakura, seizing the opportunity to jump up from the couch and hugging the other girl tightly.

He was barely aware of Hinata rising from her seat next to him and crossing the room to greet her friend. Neji's brain function temporarily ceased as hormones rushed through his veins. All he could think right now was 'wow'. There were some very nice curves indeed. He had always been known that she had pretty nice figure but he had never been this aware of that fact before. It took him a few seconds to realise that he was still gaping at her like an idiot. Lee had already hugged her and told her that she looked like a beautiful lotus blossom by the time he realised that he was the only one sitting down on the couch.

"Hi Tenten," he ventured finally, joining everyone else where they were standing.

A smile lit up her features and she pointed at him excitedly, "You're BYAKUYA KUCHIKI! He's my favourite character!" Neji blinked in surprise, Tenten knew her Bleach characters, which meant that she followed his favourite anime Bleach… It suddenly occurred to him that he might have found his soul mate. But fate would have it that she was taken of course; he never was an especially lucky person.

Tenten then turned to Hinata, suddenly realising which shinigami she was, "Oh my gosh you're Rukia! I have to get a picture of you both!"

It wasn't quite the greeting he would have preferred. Neji found himself glaring at the camera, he hated having his picture taken. Hinata stood demurely next to him while Lee jumped in their picture and did the peace sign.

"Tenten, did you want a picture with your favourite character?" Lee offered. She nodded eagerly and handed him her camera.

Neji gulped and stood stiffly next to her. He wasn't sure he could think straight with her dressed like that. Ino, who had been observing them with an eerie smile remarked nonchalently, "Hey Neji, can you actually look like you're enjoying yourself? Put your arm around her and smile for goodness sake."

He scowled at the blonde before gingerly placing his arm around Tenten's waist. It felt so very right and comfortable somehow. Tenten simply smiled and shook her head wryly at her friend before draping her arm causally around him as well. The camera flashed and Neji blinked away the after-flash, trying to regain his vision. Tenten was suddenly standing next to Lee inspecting the photos taken on her camera and Neji tried his best not to stare at the homunculi tattoo on her chest. He barely registered Shikamaru and Chouji strolling into the room or the birthday boy approaching him.

"Oy Neji," said Shikamaru nudging him sharply in his ribs. "Might want to stop staring at her chest," he added quietly.

Neji straightened sharply and glared at the younger boy. "Not funny Nara."

"I have to get a picture of the pair of you together!" he heard Tenten's voice exclaim in the background. Lee and Chouji obediently posed as Pesche and Dondochakka for her.

Shikamaru scratched the side of his nose, "I wasn't trying to be funny, I was being helpful. People were going to notice. Anyway, do you want to play chess? You're the only one around who can give me a decent game."

"What about Guitar Hero?" Neji countered, he wasn't keen on playing chess against Shikamaru. It required a lot of thinking and he always lost. He at least stood a chance at beating Shikamaru in that game.

"Sasuke and Naruto are hogging it trying to beat each other at Dragonforce."

"Damn," he said quietly, those two would take a while, and followed Shikamaru out of the room, but not before throwing one last glance at Tenten as she chatted to Lee and Chouji. She looked like she was enjoying herself.

* * *

Tenten glanced around and realised that Neji and Shikamaru had disappeared. She had wanted a picture of Shikamaru since he was dressed up as Zaraki. The other girls wandered outside to mingle with old Konoha girls who were now attending Suna. Tenten followed them eagerly, there were a lot of her old friends that she hadn't seen for months.

"Tenten!" called out a girl long dark hair who had come as Kikiyo from Inyasha. "I almost couldn't recognise you with your get-up, we haven't seen you in ages."

"Shit, you always used to be such a dag and a tomboy. Look at you now," exclaimed another girl dressed as Yachiru.

That was a little insulting, she thought to herself. Those two had always had a way of making her feel small. "Kin, Tayuya!" Tenten fixed her smile on her face and approached her old friends who now went to Suna. They hugged her briefly and she took a step back to see them properly. They looked quite drunk already, but then again they had always had a habit of getting completely wasted at every party they attended. "So what have you guys been up to?"

"School and parties, duh what else," giggled Kin as she swayed unsteadily on her feet. Both drunk girls grabbed onto each other for support but ended up falling over.

Tenten sighed and helped them both up again. They had been best friends when they first started highschool but about a year ago, she felt like she had drifted from the other girls and she couldn't put a finger on why. They always complained in the past that she was no fun because she never got drunk enough and never made out with boys at parties. But she was always the one who held the other girls' hair back while they puked into the toilet bowl or whatever plastic bag she could find, wasn't that enough? Tenten really liked hanging out with Kin and Tayuya back in the day when they weren't getting drunk and making out with boys at the various parties they now attended every weekend. Some part of her was still stubbornly loyal and was hoping that one day they would get over whatever phase they were going through but another part of her was asking whether she was better off without them. She quelled that part ruthlessly, she shouldn't be thinking like that at all she told herself.

"I think you guys need to drink some water for a little bit. Wait here for me, I'll be back," she told them with a half-laugh.

* * *

"Troublesome eye-patch," grumbled Shikamaru as he reached for a chess piece and missed yet again. "I have no depth perception with this damn thing." He finally pulled it off his head and tossed it carelessly onto the table.

Neji snorted and took another swig from his beer. He was losing as expected, and badly as well. A few more people entered the room and he looked up. It was Gaara, Kankuro and their older sister he couldn't quite remember the name of since they hardly ever saw her. She was in her final year of school so was studying hard to get a place in the university course she wanted. He knew Gaara and Kankuro from basketball matches and it was odd not seeing them in their basketball uniforms for once but dressed as Espada from Bleach. It looked like more people than he expected were fans of Bleach. Gaara had managed to pull off Ulquiorra magnificently but he was still rather unsure about who Kankuro was meant to be. But he was guessing that their sister was Matsumoto from the outfit and the rather impressive cleavage. He also noticed that Shikamaru was very impressed and was failing to hide it poorly indeed.

"Hey," said Kankuro nonchalantly. He began helping himself to one of the beers from the six-packs that Shikamaru and Neji were finishing between them.

"Who are you meant to be?" Neji asked bluntly. He was never one to beat around the bush. "I know Gaara's Ulquiorra and she's Matsumoto but who are you?"

"Yammy, geez man how come I get stuck with the lousy Espada and Gaara gets the cool one?" grumbled Kankuro.

"Because you both scissors-paper-rocked for Ulquiorra and you lost Kankuro. Get over it," drawled his older sister. "I'm Temari, I'm afraid my brothers don't have enough manners to introduce me so I have to do it myself."

"That's Neji and I'm Shikamaru," the birthday boy finally managed to say.

"He's the birthday boy," Kankuro added helpfully. "Sweet party and by the way, I saw some random guys trying to convince your cute little cousin to play spin the bottle, Hyuuga."

Neji stood up immediately, looking pissed. "Whereabouts?" he growled. Hinata was far too nice and polite for her own good sometimes.

"In the living room," replied Gaara on his brother's behalf since Kankuro had already wandered outside to try to score with some chicks.

He was halfway to the door when Shikamaru asked mournfully, "What about our chess game?"

"You're winning anyway, go start a new game with someone else," snapped Neji before he left.

Shikamaru sighed, "Troublesome," he muttered.

Temari slid into the seat opposite him with a calculating smile, "I'll play."

* * *

"Dude, don't force her to play if she doesn't want to," rang out a loud voice.

Neji had found his cousin just in time to see Naruto come to her rescue. How fitting, he thought for a moment, Naruto dressed as Ichigo coming to Rukia's - i.e. Hinata's - rescue.

"You her boyfriend or something?" sneered the other boy.

Naruto sputtered, "No! But she's my friend!"

"Well maybe she does want to play with me and not with you." The boy put his arm around a very uncomfortable looking Hinata and pulled her closer to him. She tried to push him away but her efforts were futile. He had a strong grip on her and was much larger in size as well.

"Just let her go, there are other girls who will play with you," Sasuke tried to reason with the boy holding Hinata pretty much hostage. He ran his hand through his hair worriedly, knowing that a fight was about to break out and if it did, his Aizen costume would be ruined.

"She's cute, I like her," the guy even had the nerve stroke the side of her face with his free hand. Hinata shuddered and tried to free herself from his grip once more but was unsuccessful. She turned to Neji and Naruto with a pleading look in her eyes, she was starting to panic.

"Let my cousin go," warned Neji in an icy voice.

"Ohhh and what are you going to do to me you pussy? Cry for your mamma?" came the mocking reply.

All hell broke loose and luckily for Hinata, Shino who had been quietly observing from the sidelines had the sense to pull her away from the fight before she could get hurt by any wayward blows. A few of the sleaze's friends had also joined the scuffle and she gasped when she saw Neji break the other guy's nose.

Tenten suddenly appeared, attracted by the noisy commotion. Her curiosity had gotten the better of her. "Oh my god, Hinata what happened?"

Hinata barely registered the other girl asking her a question as she had started crying, she didn't want her cousin to get hurt or her friends, especially because of her. "Stop fighting!" she wailed.

One of the sleaze's cronies suddenly appeared with a large wooden plank he had found by the fence and approached the fight with a manic look on his face. "This is bad," said Shino, moving forward to try to intercept the guy.

Hinata gasped and tried to run forward but Tenten held her back. The older girl wracked her brain desperately wondering how she could make them all stop. Suddenly she had an idea and she cupped her hands over her mouth and yelled, "SHIT! THE COPS ARE COMING!"

Everyone involved in the fight and within earshot froze for a moment, then fled and just like that, the party was suddenly over.

* * *

Every single teenager who had been at the party had made themselves scarce within five minutes of Tenten's little announcement except for their group of friends who were the only ones still there. Ino had thrown a hissy fit at Naruto, Sasuke and Neji for ruining her birthday party before storming off, close to tears. Chouji had had to go after her since Sakura was busy trying to comfort a sniffling Hinata who kept moaning that it was all her fault. Strangely enough that no one seemed to be able to find Shikamaru or Temari anywhere and most of their other friends had already passed out somewhere so they had missed the entire show. Neji couldn't take the hysterics anymore and had gone outside with bottle of bourbon to nurse his black eye in peace.

He was lying on his back on the grass gazing at the stars with his good eye when he heard someone approach and sit down next to him.

"Hey," said Tenten simply. "How are you feeling?" She lay down beside him. She wasn't too sure why she had come out here after Neji but it had been an eventful night and she needed to chill for a bit.

"Sore," he muttered.

She chuckled and patted his arm sympathetically. "Do you want an icepack or something?"

"I'm fine." Neji waved the bourbon bottle he had found in the esky of melted ice when looking for an icepack. He had decided to use the bottle as a makeshift ice-pack instead since it was still cold. He gulped some of its contents down his throat. It burned, it was pretty strong.

Tenten tilted her head to get a better view of him and laughed, "You're not fine." She tried to take the bottle away from him.

"No, I need to self-medicate," he protested.

"Don't be selfish and share," she giggled and when she finally succeeded in taking the bottle from him, she took a swig. "You know, when that guy turned up with that piece of wood I got really scared, one of you guys could have ended up in hospital," Tenten told him sombrely.

"Sorry," Neji mumbled. He felt bad for making Tenten worry. He also felt terrible for making Hinata so upset but he just had to do something, he couldn't stand to see that prick try to take advantage of his cousin.

"Don't worry it was for a good cause," she replied quietly and passed the bottle back to him. Neji took another swig then he passed it back to her. They both continued passing it back and forth to each other until she started giggling uncontrollably for no reason. Only now that the party was over, was she getting wasted for the first time ever. She tried to sit up but everything started spinning so she flopped back down again.

"I think you've had enough," laughed Neji taking the now empty bottle away from her and placing it down on the grass away from them both.

"It's not fair, how come you're not drunk at all and you had the same amount of alcohol as me as well!" she groaned.

"Do you want the scientific explanation?" he teased her. She punched him lightly in reply. "I am drunk anyway, I just don't act that different to when I'm sober." Neji propped himself up on his elbow so he could study her face more easily. She looked so beautiful under the moonlight as corny as it sounded. "You looked really pretty tonight." The words were out of his mouth before he could stop them.

Tenten blushed furiously and smiled slowly at him. "Thanks," she replied shyly. He is pretty drunk after all, she thought to herself. Wait, was it her imagination or was his face coming closer to hers? Neji gently pressed his lips against hers and kissed her. Tenten froze, she was completely stunned for a moment. Then the alcohol and her attraction to him took over and she kissed him back.

* * *

**A/N:** Duh duh duh... progress yay. Sorry if the kiss wasn't romantic enough, I can't do romantic kisses in fact I can't do kisses at all fullstop. I avoid them like the plague...

I'll try to update sooner than usual! (provided I'm not enjoying my holidays too much hehe)

Anyway, feel free to leave me a review! I like reviews!


	9. Truths and Lies

Yikes, I was hoping to get this out a bit earlier but I got um... lazy plus there's something wrong with my comp, it keeps shutting down by itself without any warning and that kinda interferes with my writing process. I need to get my computer looked at... Anyway I'll try to be better with updating!

Oh and guess what, I got FANART! It's by the always lovely . from the cosplay party chapter and I put a link to it on my profile so feel free to check it out! Thank you E you are da bomb! And also a big thank you to all my patient readers and reviewers for sticking with this lazy author!

**Disclaimer: **I do not own Naruto or any of the characters mentioned

* * *

**Truths and Lies**

The next morning, after waking, Tenten couldn't help but grin stupidly at her ceiling when she remembered what had happened at the end of the party. Neji had kissed her and it had been her first kiss ever. In fact, she could almost swear that her lips were still tingling. She hugged her pillow hard, muffling a squeal. No one else at the party knew what had happened, she hadn't spoken of it to anyone else and she didn't think Neji would have either. But she just felt like she had to tell someone before she burst. She couldn't possibly talk to Hinata, Ino or Sakura about it because they would make a big deal out of it and blab to everyone. Talking to Lee was also out of the question. But…she could talk to Haku… he could be discreet and was always a good person to talk to.

Tenten picked up her mobile and dialled Haku's number. She listened intently to his phone ringing many times wondering what was taking him so long to pick up. He was usually quite prompt. Haku finally picked up his phone with a sleepy, croaky "Hello?"

"Hey Haku, it's me Tenten," she answered him brightly.

"Yeah, I know your name shows up on the screen," he muttered. He was never really a morning person.

"How was your concert?" she continued. She was used to his ways, he'd stop being grumpy after a minute or so.

"Oh it was awesome, the lead singer crowd-surfed and I bought the band t-shirt!" There was a short pause and he drawled, "So how was your party?" Haku's tone was much more suggestive now. She could almost see him waggling his eyebrows at her.

"It was…eventful," Tenten replied, deciding to keep him in a bit of suspense. "Everyone got pretty smashed including me and there was a fight."

"Oh dear that's not very good, did anyone get hurt?"

"No, my quick thinking saved the day," she laughed. "I just yelled that the cops were coming so everyone just ran away."

Haku laughed at the other end of the phone. "Tenten you are a sly one. So how's your head? Did you get a hangover?"

She shifted the phone to her other ear and thought for a moment. No she didn't actually feel any different to normal which was surprising considering the amount of alcohol she did end up drinking. "I didn't get a hangover actually…" Tenten could hear another guy's voice in the background. It must be Zabuza, she thought to herself.

"Sorry, Zabuza wants me to talk outside so he can continue sleeping, I'm just moving to the living room now. So did you do anything stupid under the influence of alcohol?" Haku teased.

Tenten pondered briefly, wondering whether kissing Neji counted as something stupid.

He gasped, "Tenten, you DID do something!" As she had taken far too long to answer, Haku had immediately come to the worse conclusion. "You didn't do drugs or sleep with anyone did you?" he half-whispered with horror.

"NO! I didn't do anything like that," she assured him emphatically.

"Then what exactly did you do?" he demanded to know.

"I… I kissed Neji. Well technically he kissed me first and then I kissed him back."

There was a pregnant pause as Haku digested her words. "Tenten! You silly girl, that's not a stupid thing!"

She laughed sheepishly.

"So spill, give me all the gory details. Like are you guys going out now?"

"I- I don't know. We just kissed for a while and then some people came out of the house to look for us so we jumped apart before they could see us and sort of acted like nothing happened," she replied and began to wonder if the kiss did indeed mean anything.

"Oh," he breathed out heavily on the phone as he analysed the implications of the situation. "He kissed you first right?"

"Yeah, we were both pretty drunk at the time though."

"Well it could be that normally he's too shy to make a move so he needed the alcohol to help him work up the courage to make a move on you," Haku suggested to her cheerily. "But then again he could just have been too drunk to know what he was doing, but I think he's probably just shy. He seems like a pretty quiet guy from what I've seen."

"Maybe, Lee did say that he was shy last time," she rubbed her nose. Her stomach growled informing her that she should probably eat breakfast soon.

"Have you spoken to him since?" Haku asked her curiously.

"No, but I'll see him at school tomorrow," she sighed wondering what on earth she was going to say to him.

Haku chuckled, "Young love is a wonderful thing isn't it?"

* * *

Neji stared up at his ceiling blankly. It seemed like he had been doing that quite often lately. His head pounded and he wondered what in the world possessed him to drink so much alcohol in the first place. Thinking seemed to make his headache even worse so he decided that he needed an aspirin and some water. His plan was to sleep until he had to go to school the next day. Neji shuffled slowly to the bathroom and splashed some cold water on his face in an effort to make him feel less like complete crap. He caught a glimpse of himself in the mirror and groaned when he saw the magnificent black eye he was currently sporting. What was his uncle going to think? If he was lucky, he would only get a lecture but if he was unlucky, both he and Hinata might be grounded for the rest of their lives. Neji then remembered the other events that had occurred that night and groaned out loud once more. He had kissed Tenten and she had kissed him back. A pang of guilt wracked through him, she had a boyfriend and what he did was unforgivable. He should have had more self-control and it was going to be even more difficult to put his feelings for Tenten away from himself now that he had had a taste of what could have been on her lips. Neji was not looking forward to going to school tomorrow.

* * *

For once, he was sitting next to his cousin Hinata on the bus to school. He usually left earlier for some sporting practice but today he'd decided to give athletic training with Gai-sensei a miss. Gai would undoubtedly ask too many questions about his eye. Hinata stared out of the window, her hands folded neatly on her lap twisting the hem of her skirt every now and then. She was still subdued after the party, most probably because constantly seeing his black-eye reminded her of the fight. She met his gaze momentarily and shifted guiltily.

Neji sighed and turned the volume of his ipod up. His uncle had given him a stern lecture last night about the dangers of alcohol and violence telling him how easy it was to kill another person with simply one punch. _"You're a sensible boy; you know you shouldn't be getting into fights. You're supposed to set a good example,"_ his uncle had said, his voice laced with disappointment. That had been even worse than anger. If Hiashi had known that he had kissed another guy's girlfriend as well, the lecture would probably have been ten times worse since it was no longer just rash actions he was dealing with but dishonourable ones was well. Hiashi had also gone on to scold him for putting Hinata in danger and how irresponsible he had been. Neji grimaced, closed his eyes and tried to calm himself. Luckily things hadn't gone as bad as he feared, his uncle hadn't been overly furious since he had been trying to protect Hinata after all.

When he reached the school, he had rapidly made his way to his classroom which was slowly filling up with students and slunk into his seat without glancing in anyone else's direction. He bowed his head over his notebook, hair falling forward to half cover his face and began mulling over what he needed to say to Tenten. He couldn't avoid her in school forever when she was in all of his classes bar one. The teacher, Asuma-sensei finally strode into the classroom, still stinking of cigarettes. He looked startled when he saw Neji's black-eye but thankfully didn't say anything. What happened outside of school wasn't any of the teachers' business. Neji felt his stomach do a flip when Tenten entered the classroom. She gave him a crooked smile then cast her eyes downwards as she made her way past him to take her seat two rows behind him. He clamped down hard on his emotions because feeling elated when she smiled at him was wrong. Kissing another guy's girlfriend was wrong. Causing trouble between a couple was wrong. It was especially wrong on his part because he liked to pride himself on setting higher expectations on himself than most other teenage boy who were more preoccupied with their hormones and getting laid. There would be no messy complications if it wasn't for his stupid decision to get trashed. Still being in love with her was stupid but he could still make amends somehow, even if it hurt him like hell.

* * *

She had caught herself staring at him far too often during classes, trying to figure him out. He hadn't paid her any attention, but then he normally didn't pay her much attention anyway because he actually concentrating in class. It was disconcerting seeing his magnificent black-eye but he wasn't the only one walking around the school with bruises or cuts on his face. Naruto and Sasuke were in equally bad shape as well. Lee walked beside her down the corridor to their lockers waving his arms excitedly as he told her something but she wasn't listening. Neji was already at his locker shoving some textbooks in; he turned towards them, his expression bland.

"Neji!" exclaimed Lee.

"Hey Neji," Tenten echoed and gave him an uncertain smile. She was currently very confused as to where they now stood after the kiss at the party.

The tall pale-eyed boy gave her a flicker of a smile in return before walking just behind Lee's other side to lunch. Her heart skipped a beat, so this was what it was like to be in love. He was the perfect guy that all the guys wanted to be and all the girls wanted to be with. She still couldn't quite believe that he had kissed her because she just couldn't imagine Neji willingly going for a girl like her.

They sat at one of the larger wooden benches under the tree for lunch with the rest of their friends. Tenten dug into her noodles that she had packed happily and halfway through a mouthful, she glanced up and caught Neji watching her with amusement flitting across his features. She gulped and flushed, feeling rather embarrassed. He quickly looked away and began eating his own lunch that Hinata had packed for both him and her. He didn't look exactly keen on it as it was a vegetarian salad and pushed it around the container with a fork miserably.

Kiba came bounding over out of no where. He had gone off earlier to buy food and now he had a huge grin on his face as he propelled Sai along with him to their table. "You'll never guess who Sai caught making out at the party the other night!"

Both Tenten and Neji stiffened, they thought no one had seen them that night so how could Sai have known? Naruto perked up though, "Oh let me guess, was it Ino and Kankuro?"

Ino slapped the back of his head hard. "I didn't even talk to him at the party."

Kiba was grinning toothily, "You were close though Naruto."

"Give us a clue!" whined Naruto plaintively.

"Well it did involve one of the birthday kids and someone from Suna," Kiba drawled out.

Neji and Tenten instantly relaxed simultaneously.

"Oh was it Ino and Gaara? Or Ino and Temari? Oh that last one would be hot…"

"NARUTO! I DIDN'T KISS ANYONE AND STOP ASSUMING IT WAS ME!" screeched Ino.

"It was Shikamaru and Temari," Kiba announced smugly.

"You're kidding me right?" said Sakura leaning forward on her elbows towards him. "That chauvinistic lazy bum managed to hook up with one of the hottest most popular girls at Suna? How on earth did he manage that?"

A shadow suddenly fell upon them and their table and everyone looked up to see Shikamaru and Chouji standing there with their lunches. There was dead silence and Shikamaru raised his eyebrow, wondering what was with their strange behaviour before grumbling, "Shove over so we can sit."

Chouji was already digging in, ignoring the scrutiny of the rest of his friends. He was used to it, having often awed them with the size of his appetite. Shikamaru on the other hand paused and looked up, "Can you stop staring at me like that, I can't eat."

Everyone quickly started to blabber mindlessly in an attempt to make normal conversation. Sasuke nudged Naruto sharply who had still been goggling at Shikamaru. But the blonde boy ignored him. "Is it true?" Naruto asked in an awe-filled voice.

Shikamaru didn't reply instantly until he realised that it was him the question had been directed. "Is what true?"

"That you hooked up with Temari."

The notoriously lazy boy chewed his food slowly and realised that everybody at his table was impatiently waiting for his answer. He would have to tread carefully here. "Yeah, so?"

Ino leant over and grabbed him by the collar of his shirt. "You don't go 'yeah, so'! Don't you understand, this is HUGE news, every guy wants her. So what's the deal with you both now, are you an item?" She barely stopped for breath.

Shikamaru slowly extricated himself from her grip. "It's not a big deal, it was just a kiss," he paused when Chouji gave him a disbelieving look. "Okay, we made out and have been texting each other but it's not like we're going steady and are going to get married," he grumbled irritably.

The blonde girl made a strangled noise before flinging her hands up in the air, "I cannot understand you!" Both Sakura and Hinata shook their heads at Shikamaru in agreement with their friend. Tenten caught Neji's eye and shrugged in response. His expression was blank as usual. However, Naruto and Kiba were chortling gleefully at their friend since they weren't on the receiving end of one of the girls' tirades for once.

* * *

The final bell rang and students swarmed out of the classrooms to the lockers before rushing to catch the first bus home. Neji never really understood why the big rush? Home wasn't going to disappear if you didn't get there on time and school, although painful at times, wasn't purgatory either. If you got to the bus stop early and the bus hadn't arrived yet, you would have to stand under the sun and wait. If you missed the bus, you just caught the next one that came and the buses ran every fifteen minutes. The students milled around and past him and the crowd thinned rapidly. He had one knee on the ground as he methodically placed his books into his bag when he realised that a black pair of school shoes attached to a body was almost right under his nose. His eyes slowly travelled upwards, nice legs, he couldn't help thinking to himself and found himself looking up at Tenten and trying very hard not to look up her skirt.

"Hey," she simply said.

"Hello Tenten, how are you?" he replied carefully. Why did he have to sound so formal and stiff?

"I was wondering if I could talk to you," she glanced around the corridor quickly, it was empty, "about what happened at the party on the weekend?" She sounded uncertain.

Neji stood up abruptly and swung his bag over his right shoulder. This was it, the moment he had been dreading. He took a deep breath, "I was drunk, you were drunk, it didn't mean anything and you should just forget about it." At that moment, Tenten's face became unreadable, which was strange because she was always so open.

"So I was just some random drunken fling to you?" she said in a low voice. Her hands clutching her folder and books to her chest shook slightly.

He made sure that his face did not betray his emotions and answered as coolly as he could, "Something like that." Neji then dropped his gaze away from her face and walked away from her.

* * *

**A/N:** Argh don't hate me.


	10. Black Holes and Revelations

I meant to get this up before Christmas but I'm afraid I got busy with making the house ready for relatives who were staying with us. Sorry! Anyway I hope you all had a great Christmas and Happy New Year everyone! I should probably make updating more regularly one of my New Year's resolutions hehe.

Big thank you to all my lovely reviewers, especially the regulars. I think you know who you are =) Without your comments and constructive critiques, I would not be very motivated to write at all.

I really hope that this chapter will redeem me (and Neji) after the last one!

**Disclaimer: This person does not own any part of the Naruto franchise though she wishes that she did.**

* * *

**Black Holes and Revelations**

Talking to Neji had not gone exactly to plan, not that she had had a specific plan to start off with. But she might have been secretly fantasising that he would declare his undying love for her, sweep her off her feet and they would ride away into the sunset together where they would live happily ever after. Of course reality had happened and he had made it quite clear that she hadn't meant anything to him. Perhaps he was just like the rest of those arrogant cocky bastards who knew how good looking they were and didn't give a crap about the girls' hearts they used, then trampled on, for their own amusement. She hated herself for feeling this upset like some silly little obsessed fan girl with a giant crush that had no hope of going anywhere in the first place. She should never have gotten her hopes up in the first place.

Tenten watched Neji walk away from her after their brief exchange and something in her chest tightened. She felt numb as she stood by his locker for what felt like an eternity, trying to remember how to breathe. She slowly and deliberately put the rest of her books in her bag before walking out of the school. Hot tears were welling up in her eyes and she blinked them away fiercely. She didn't want to breakdown and cry in front of any of the other students so she decided to walk home that afternoon. When she was about two blocks away from the school, the heavens opened and began pouring down rain. Her day could not have gotten any better, she thought to herself sarcastically. Tenten ignored the fact that she was getting soaked and continued walking home almost blindly. Angry tears were blurring her vision and had begun to freely run down her face. She didn't cry often. The last time she cried was when she was ten, when her parents separated and divorced. In fact, Tenten was slightly relieved that it was raining down hard because she could pretend that it was just the rain if anyone asked. By the time she reached her home, she was completely drenched and she was pretty sure that her school bag, as well as its contents, were drenched as well but she didn't care. It was only until she had peeled off her wet clothes and was standing under a hot shower that she finally allowed herself to sob her broken heart out.

* * *

Neji had practised the piano the entire day since returning home from school. He didn't want to think or remember what had happened between him and Tenten that afternoon at school so he needed an activity that wouldn't allow his mind to wander. But the recent events continued to replay in his mind's eye over and over again. As he practised he began hitting the black and white keys harder and harder until he was banging out his frustration on the piano furiously. Why did he have to get so drunk he lost his inhibitions and actually kissed Tenten? Why did he have to have the worst luck out of everyone he knew? Why did his mother then father have to die while he was young? Why did the one girl he had fallen for have to have a boyfriend? Why couldn't he have been smart enough to have the sense to patiently wait until Tenten eventually broke up with Haku, if she ever did, instead of hurting her feelings? He hadn't realised what that look on her face was at the time he had told her that she didn't mean anything to him, but now he recognised it as plain and simple hurt. Neji wondered if it was possible that she could ever forgive him.

Both his cousins had been more subdued around him during dinner, they had arrived home in time to hear him attempt to destroy the piano by hammering the keys as hard as he could. He supposed it acted as a gauge for his moods for them as he rarely confided in them. Meanwhile, Hiashi had acted as he normally did so it was entirely possible that he may have realised that his nephew was in a foul mood but didn't deem it any of his business or he may not have noticed a thing. Not that Neji cared anyway; he'd always tried to figure things out on his own ever since he had become an orphan. Perhaps it was his unlucky fate that he would always be alone for the rest of his life.

* * *

Her Dad, who was at home for once, continuously gave her concerned looks throughout dinner. She ate quickly and excused herself as soon as she could. He knew something was up but she didn't feel like discussing this with him or anyone else at the moment. There was a gentle knock at her door. She didn't answer so she continued lying facedown on her bed, her face in her pillow and hoped that her father would give up and leave her alone. He didn't, instead he had pushed her door open quietly and sat on the edge of her bed. Patting her back awkwardly, he cleared his throat and asked her gently, "What happened today princess?" He was an auditor, a rather boring profession in her opinion and in her mother's as well, he was excellent at dealing with numbers but not so good at dealing with moody teenagers.

"Nothing," she replied flatly, her response muffled by her pillow.

"If you're trying to suffocate yourself with a pillow, you're doing it all wrong," he tried joking with her.

Tenten turned on her side, facing away from him.

"What's the matter Tenten?" he ventured once more.

He was met with silence for a while. "I'm not feeling well," she finally replied. "I don't want to go to school tomorrow."

There was a brief pause, before he answered her. "How about we see how you're feeling tomorrow morning before deciding?"

Tenten didn't answer him, rigidly staring at the wall in front of her. She heard her father sigh tiredly before leaving her room.

Ironically, she was sick the next morning, having caught a cold after her walk in the rain the previous day so she stayed home that day and for the next few days after that.

* * *

Her empty desk the next day and the day after were only too apparent to him. Did she skip school because she couldn't bear the sight of him anymore? Did she hate him this much now? Was she even still alive? He had spent the past couple of days obsessing over the possible reasons of why she had been missing school and the only thing he could think of was that she probably hated him with the fire of a thousand burning suns now.

"Neji, do you know why Tenten hasn't been at school lately?" Hinata asked him curiously during lunch.

"No," he replied flatly.

Lee, always eager to help in any way he could, had been sitting beside him and had overheard Hinata's query. "She's sick, she caught a bad cold from walking home in the rain on Monday afternoon." His round eyes grew even rounder as he came up with an idea, "Maybe we should make her a get well card because she seemed a bit down as well when I spoke to her over the phone, I'm sure it'd cheer her up!"

She would hate being fussed over like that, Neji thought. But he didn't have the heart to argue with Lee because he knew that it was his fault she was upset and sick. Hinata shyly volunteered to make the card as her favourite subject was art. Lee enthusiastically agreed, he could only draw stick figures, and excitedly began offering ideas and suggestions to his cousin as she started designing the card. Neji abruptly stood up and left without another word.

Hinata stared after his tensed back, chewing her bottom lip worriedly. He had been in such a black mood the past few days she had been almost afraid to even talk to him. She wondered what it was that was bothering him this much, she had never seen him this worked up before. It couldn't have been his school work or sports, he was still brilliant at everything, and she didn't think he had had a fight with any of the other boys. Was it a girl problem? He had never shown an interest in any girl before until Tenten but they seemed to be getting along well or were they? Tenten hadn't been at school for a while so circumstances could have changed recently...

"Is something the matter with Neji, Hinata?" asked Lee, his heavy eyebrows furrowed with concern. Lee wasn't the smartest or most observant person around but he knew his best friend well enough to know that something was off.

"I- I don't know," she mumbled apologetically. She glanced down at her fidgeting hands that were now picking at the hem of her shirt. It was a bad habit of hers, she immediately stilled her hands and glanced up at Lee half-worried that he might chase her cousin and confront him then and there.

Instead, Lee looked thoughtful. "Maybe you should talk to him Hinata, you're practically a sister to him and I'm afraid that I have no experience with affairs of the heart so I won't be of any use to Neji."

She blinked twice in surprise, she had not realised that Lee could actually be tactful and surprisingly perceptive whenever the need arose. Behind all the outrageous enthusiasm and energy, there was a more serious guy and she was starting to understand why Neji and Tenten were such good friends with him. Beforehand, she had shared a fairly similar opinion with Ino and Sakura of Lee, which was that he was a rather crazy dork. She felt guilty for previously thinking of Lee in such an unflattering light. "I will talk to him but I'm afraid I don't have experience in that area either," she replied softly.

Lee beamed at her and gave her a thumbs-up. She tried not to cringe in embarrassment. "Don't worry Hinata, you're a very sensitive and kind person and you're a good listener so Neji will be much more comfortable talking to you!" he exclaimed.

Hinata blushed faintly, but couldn't help smiling back at the long gangly boy. She had never thought of her quieter nature as a positive thing before.

* * *

She was back at school on Friday. Taking a deep breath to steady herself, she looked up at the old brick buildings that had now become so familiar to her. Her dad, who had always overcompensated with his care whenever she was ill, had insisted on driving her to school even though she now felt fine except for a lingering cough. She didn't want to go to school and have to be around _him_ of all people. He was the last person she wanted to see at the moment, her emotions were still in a mess when it came to him, but he had to be in almost every single one of her classes! Tenten grit her teeth determinedly, she was not going to let him get to her and she would show him just how little the kiss had meant to her. But deep down she knew she was only lying to herself.

She strode into the classroom and plastered a fake smile onto her face. A few of the other students greeted her. Neji was already sitting in his seat near the back window and he was watching her warily. Her eyes met his for a moment and Tenten almost shivered under his intense gaze before sliding her eyes downwards and sitting in her seat a few rows in front of him. "Tenten!" exclaimed Lee excitedly when he arrived. "How are you feeling?"

Tenten managed a half genuine smile for her friend. Lee's exuberance raised her spirits, he was always so optimistic and enthusiastic in everything he did. At least there was one person she knew who was glad to see her. "I'm feeling much better thanks Lee, did I miss much when I was away?"

"You can borrow my notes for the weekend Tenten, but if you want better notes you should probably get Neji's," he replied and winked at her. Everyone knew that Neji was dux of their grade.

Her smile faded abruptly and Lee's brow creased with worry and confusion. Were his friends having a quarrel? They had seemed to have gotten along very well before then and he had even thought that they may have fancied each other though neither of them would have admitted it. "It's ok Lee, I'll just get your notes, I'm sure you managed to write down every single thing the teacher said," she covered smoothly.

Lee leant down to whisper in her ear loudly, "Is everything ok Tenten?"

She lied of course. "Yeah, everything is just great, I'm just a bit worried about how soon I can catch up on what I missed, that's all." Lee opened his mouth to say some more but then Tenten was saved by the arrival of their teacher.

* * *

Lunch was awkward. Neji was never expected to contribute much to the conversation since he was quiet by nature so no one noticed him mechanically eat his food and not make eye-contact with anybody. Tenten, on the other hand, was usually the female voice of reason but today was unusually silent. She was pushing her food on her plate around but not actually eating and Hinata had been giving both of them equally worried glances. Hinata had definitely noticed that something was going on between them and it wasn't good since both Neji and Tenten were sitting as far apart from each other as they could. It hadn't taken too long before everyone else noticed Tenten's sombre mood.

"Tenten, are you okay? You're awfully quiet today," Sakura's delicate eyebrows knitted together, concern etched across her face.

The other girl startled, she had been zoning out for a while and had lost track of the conversation. "I'm fine, I guess I'm still not feeling completely well yet," she laughed embarrassedly.

Ino leaned forward to inspect the older girl more closely, "If you want we can take you to the school nurse."

"It's fine, really, I'm not that sick," Tenten protested.

"Tenten, you are incredibly brave trying to be tough but I will not let you risk your health for that. I am bringing you to see the school nurse," declared Lee, not believing her at all. He grabbed Tenten's arm and half dragged her away.

Neji watched them go with slightly narrowed eyes as Tenten protested and tried to pull away but she couldn't escape Lee, not when he was this determined. He could hear his friend explaining to Tenten that she was a delicate blossom who needed a lot of tender loving care and soon they had both disappeared into the main building.

"Poor Tenten," said Sakura.

"About being sick or about being dragged off alone with Lee?" Ino smirked, knowing her friend's irritation with the older boy's efforts to woo her.

"Both, maybe," muttered the pink haired girl as she continued eating her yoghurt.

"Sakura, Ino," Hinata chided her friends but they both gave her cheeky unrepentant grins in reply.

"You both are the most shallow girls I have ever known," snapped Neji suddenly. He knew he was taking his bad mood out on them but he didn't care, their poor attitude towards his best friend had been going on for far too long when Lee had done nothing but try to be himself.

"Excuse me?" Ino snapped back, eyes blazing. She did not appreciate being told off in public like this in front of all her friends at all.

He stood up and stared down at Ino, matching the blonde's glare effortlessly. "Lee is one of the nicest guys I know and his heart is always in the right place even if whatever he does is a bit odd or extreme. He has been nothing but a friend to you both from the moment you stepped into this school and he does not deserve to be treated like he is dirt." Neji then glared at Sakura who was staring at him with alarmed green eyes. "You think you are so much better than him Sakura, but you're not. He's better than you and you don't deserve to have his affection."

He left and the table was silent for a few minutes after his departure. Ino was fuming however, Sakura was strangely thoughtful. Hinata and the other boys were simply in shock after Neji's outburst. It was a rare display of temper from him as he was always so self-controlled.

"Who does he think he is?" growled Ino. She opened her mouth to say more but Sakura shook her head.

"Ino, he's right, we haven't been very nice to Lee," Sakura told her very quietly.

Ino looked to Hinata for support but Hinata was already running after her cousin. She sighed as she thought about the way that she and Sakura had been treating Lee, like he was a loser and some kind of joke. Her shoulders slumped with the realisation. "Yeah, I guess we haven't."

* * *

When school had finished for the day, Neji immediately retreated to the safety of his room. Hinata had tried to talk to him after his outburst at lunch but he had brushed her off and the bell for classes had rung so she couldn't continue her efforts. He sat on his bed, leaning against the pillows and began bouncing a tennis ball against the wall repeatedly. Over and over again.

_Thud_

He wished that girls didn't exist.

_Thud_

He wished that he wasn't such an idiot.

_Thud_

_Tap tap_

Neji's head whipped towards the door and he scowled at his cousin. Hinata stopped knocking and came over to him with a mug of steaming hot tea in her hands. She sat on the edge of his bed and offered it to him. Green tea, his favourite. Neji accepted it as graciously as he could, then tried to ignore her. He sipped at it slowly, like it was some sort of tea ceremony.

"Neji, will you please talk to me? I know something is wrong," she pleaded with him.

He remained silent and continued to drink his tea slowly.

"Or at least talk to somebody about it? It's not exactly healthy to keep everything inside."

"There's nothing to talk about," he told her coolly.

She ignored his answer, she knew he would say something like that. "I'm not mad about what you said to Ino and Sakura at lunch, it _was_ true but it's also really out of character for you to say stuff like that. What happened between you and Tenten? I can see that you both are no longer talking to each other."

Neji hissed a quick intake of breath, was it that obvious to everyone? It didn't matter to him that the others might be talking about him but it mattered that that they might be talking about Tenten as well.

As if reading his mind, Hinata shook his head. "Don't worry, it's just Lee and I who've noticed."

He relaxed slightly. Hinata had a point, he did need to talk to somebody and it might as well be her since it would be too awkward trying to talk about it to his uncle or Lee or any of the other guys or girls. Neji took a deep breath and asked her hesitantly, "You know the party last Saturday?"

Hinata nodded solemnly, her eyes were curious.

"Tenten and I...kissed," he mumbled.

His cousin's mouth fell open in an O of surprise. "That's great!" she exclaimed excitedly, then she caught his bitter expression. "...Isn't it?" she asked uncertainly.

"No," he snapped, "We were both really drunk and she already has a boyfriend."

"Oh." Hinata looked down, she knew she was going to be lousy at this whole boy-girl advice thing. "So is that why she's not talking to you anymore?"

"I didn't want to give her the wrong idea so I told her that it meant absolutely nothing and I think that really hurt her feelings," sighed Neji.

"Did it mean absolutely nothing to you?" Hinata asked timidly.

He groaned and buried his face into his pillow. "I am so in love with her it's not funny."

Hinata chewed her bottom lip and patted his shoulder comfortingly. This was a rather big mess. Then she frowned, since when did Tenten have a boyfriend? "Who'd you say she was going out with?" she asked him very slowly.

"I didn't," he muttered. "But she's going out with that guy she dances with, Haku."

Hinata's hand froze mid-air as she was about to continue patting her cousin's shoulder but slapped him hard instead.

"Ow," hissed Neji. Wasn't she supposed to be making him feel better, not hurting him?

"You idiot," she hissed at him and slapped the back of his head this time quite ungently. "She's not going out with him, Haku is gay. He's like the gayest person on the planet."

Neji shot up, "What?! Are you serious?"

"Completely serious, now where on earth did you get the idea that they were an item?"

"I-I thought they were going out because they seemed really close and I thought I saw them on a date," he stammered, mentally going through all those times he had seen them together. He had never actually seen them holding hands or kissing come to think of it.

"They're best friends you dummy, why didn't you ask anyone before jumping to wild conclusions?" scolded Hinata. She pushed him off his bed, "You go apologise to Tenten now and explain everything to her."

With his mind reeling with what he had just learnt, Neji could only nod in reply and before he knew it, he was running out of the house and in the direction of Tenten's house.

* * *

**A/N:** Am I and Neji redeemed?

Feel free to leave me a review, I like reading them!


	11. Making up is Hard to do

I know, I know, I took ages to update when I said that I was going to try not to take too long. Sorry but I think I have a whole bunch of fairly good excuses, like I just got a job, I went on a camp and then got really sick after that and then I had a whole bunch of computer problems (and thought I had lost ALL my fanfic stuff) and then I went on a short holiday interstate. I am really trying to finish this story this year, which I guess is a fairly realistic aim for me (it was originally going to be before uni starts but then it's only about 3 weeks till the semester starts and if my updating habits are anything to go by...) But shouldn't be too many more chapters to go. Yay.

As always a massive thank you to all my readers and reviewers, especially the regular ones who continue to review all my chapters even though I am so terrible at updating. I love you guys!

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto. I also do not own a car or a house or any other decent asset.

* * *

**Making up is hard to do**

Neji ran. He ran until he reached Tenten's street and finally slowed to a stop in front of her house. He bent over to catch his breath then he glanced up at the grey clouds gathering in the sky. Very appropriate for this situation, he thought to himself. If he didn't know any better, he could have sworn that the plastic pink flamingos on the lawn were giving him the evil eye. Neji took a deep breath, ran his hand through his hair nervously and wondered what on earth he was going to say to Tenten. He didn't exactly have a speech planned out so he decided to wing it and pray that she would hear him out and accept his apology. He knocked on the front door sharply thrice. There were some faint noises coming from the inside, someone was definitely home. However he wasn't expecting the door to be opened by THIS person.

Haku crossed his arms and glared at him. "What do you want you...scumbag."

Neji sighed, he supposed he did deserve that. "Look I just want to talk to Tenten," he said as politely and as calmly as he could.

The older boy snorted, "Yeah sure, when the moon is made of green cheese and pigs start to fly. Go away." He started to close the door but Neji quickly stopped him.

"Please, let me speak to her, I know she's in there," he pleaded desperately.

"Well she doesn't want to talk to you or have anything to do with you," snapped Haku peevishly and added almost as an afterthought, "no matter how extremely good looking you are..." The door slammed shut in Neji's face.

Neji blinked, did he just get checked out by a gay guy? That disturbing thought was far too much for his mind to digest properly. He kicked a rock viciously and cursed. Damn Haku for getting in the way between him and Tenten, literally. Neji looked up at the house and briefly considered climbing up a tree and in through the back bedroom window just like in the movies but decided against it. He didn't want to get arrested for breaking and entering. Perhaps he could call her... Neji immediately pulled out his mobile and dialled her number.

* * *

"Don't even think about picking it up," Haku warned her before snatching her mobile out of her hands and picking it up himself. "Nice try Neji and no she will not talk to you so go tie yourself down on to some train tracks or something like th-"

"Haku!" hissed Tenten.

He gave her an innocent look. "What?" Suddenly there was a flash of light and two seconds later a roll of thunder. It had started storming again. Tenten rubbed her red-rimmed eyes tiredly. Haku had invited himself over unexpectedly that afternoon and had immediately sensed something was very wrong. She had ended up telling him everything and bawling her eyes out.

"Just give me the phone," she sighed and snatched her phone back from her best friend. "Hello?" she said quietly. She heard Neji sigh with relief on the other side.

The words jumbled out in a rush. "Tenten, I'm so so sorry about what I said, I can explain everything just please let me make it up to you, I'll do anythin-"

"Please just go home and leave me alone," she whispered, tears had welled up dangerously in her eyes from hearing the sound of his voice. Then she hung up. Haku handed her a few tissues and enveloped her in a hug wordlessly while she started crying all over again.

"Let's go see what disgusting comfort food you have in your kitchen."

* * *

Hinata's expression became troubled when she opened the door for him. He was completely soaked from his trudge home through the storm and he was quite sure that the look on his face told his cousin that his talk to Tenten had not gone well at all. She wordlessly got him a towel before sitting him in the kitchen with a mug of hot chocolate this time. "What happened?" she asked.

"She didn't want anything to do with me, I didn't even get a chance to explain," he groaned before burying his head in his arms.

He could hear the knife hitting the chopping board at regular intervals as Hinata began chopping up some vegetables for dinner. "Well I would think she would be pretty upset about you telling her that the kiss meant nothing especially when it is most likely her first kiss."

Neji's head shot up immediately and he gave her a look of utter horror. It was his first kiss too but from his limited experience with girls, he knew they were much more sentimental about their first kisses and a drunken kiss that got dismissed as nothing would not sit well with most.

Hinata put the knife down for a moment and sighed, "From what I know of Tenten from dancing and school, she's never had a boyfriend and she isn't one of those girls who randomly go around kissing guys at parties. Did you even try hard enough to get her to listen to you?"

He scowled fiercely and snapped, "Haku was there." What was his cousin implying anyway?

Hinata began chopping carrots up once more as she tried to come up with a solution for her cousin. She knew nothing about boy-girl relationships. All she knew was that Neji needed to get Tenten alone so he could explain everything to her but it would be difficult at school with all their other friends around and she was afraid that Haku may hang around Tenten's house a lot for the next few days. Perhaps she should speak to him, but getting involved in other people's fights often meant trouble.

Neji ran a hand through his hair and sighed. "I don't know what to do Hinata."

"I don't know what you should do either… but I think you should just keep trying to talk to her. Don't give up."

* * *

So he decided to try to take his cousin's advice. Tenten had been avoiding him. He figured the only way he could really corner her was during their Chemistry and Biology classes when they had to sit and work together at the same bench. However, when he had finally worked up enough courage to sit beside her at their bench and was about to try to talk to her, Shizune chose that moment to announce that they would be dissecting toads that day. Neji snapped his head towards Lee immediately, his friend had turned a rather pale shade of green. The last time they had to dissect a sheep's brain, Lee had fainted.

Lee immediately raised his hand, "Shizune-san, I need to go see the nurse, I'm not feeling well."

Shizune eyed the student speculatively before nodding. Lee leapt out of his seat and sprinted away. Neji cast a sidelong glance at Tenten who had a rather annoyed expression on her face as she stared after her friend who had left her all by herself with the one person she did not want to be around.

"Tenten?" he asked tentatively as the toad was placed on their bench. He watched her stab the toad's limbs down with the pins a tad too viciously for his liking.

"What?" she snapped.

"Did you want me to do anything?" Neji ventured cautiously. Most girls were squeamish about dissections.

Tenten grabbed the extremely sharp scalpel and whirled around to face him, unaware that she was pointing the sharp end at him. "No, just don't talk to me and let me enjoy cutting the stupid toad into pieces and imagine that it is you."

He gulped nervously and eyed the scalpel worriedly. Okay she wasn't squeamish at all. In fact she still hated him with the fire of a thousand burning suns and was rather dangerous to talk to at the moment. Neji closed his eyes briefly and prayed that he would survive this class and decided that he would try to talk to her the next day in Chemistry.

* * *

Tenten had gotten to the stage where she was mad. Mad at the way Neji had used her, tossed her aside and now was trying to be nice to her. The way he was acting was confusing her greatly as it was a complete u-turn from what he had said after the party when he broke her heart. What kind of crazy game was he trying to play? How severely can he emotionally mess up a girl? Neji was quite intent on talking to her in private but she was going to thwart him this time. No more was she going to be a victim to his twisted manipulations. Tenten was so lost in her thoughts, she didn't realise that Neji had passed her a note just then. She automatically opened it and recognised his messy scrawl.

_Tenten, I know you are avoiding me but can you just let me explain what I said the other time?_

She scowled at the note then at the author. He met her gaze levelly. Why did he always have to be so calm and collected about everything all the time?

_Leave me alone. There's nothing to explain, you made yourself perfectly clear but for some reason you won't get it through your thick skull that I don't want anything to do with you now._

Tenten then scrunched the piece of paper up tightly and threw it at his head when the teacher wasn't looking. The ball of paper hit its mark. She always hit her target, she knew she had excellent aim. It didn't hurt that he was sitting right beside her at her bench in Chemistry. She felt rather smug as she watched him rub the area where he was hit as surreptitiously as he could before frowning at the note. His pale eyes flickered towards hers and she looked away pointedly. Tenten knew she was being immature but she didn't care.

"Tenten," he whispered, trying to keep his voice low.

She tried to glare at him but he had managed to have just the right amount of distress and remorse on his face to make her will weaken. She hated how much he could affect her like this.

"When I said that the..." he seemed to have trouble getting the words out, "kiss didn't mean a thing to me... I was lying."

Her back stiffened, where on earth was he going with this? However, her thoughts were interrupted by their teacher, Shizune, who was staring hard at their bench. "No talking in class," she reprimanded them sternly. Shizune was one of the strictest teachers in the school, and no one misbehaved in her class unless they were masochistic enough to want detention or some other kind of punishment for the rest of the year. Both Neji and Tenten immediately lowered their heads down to do their work but a few minutes later, Neji began trying to talk to her again. He must have been really desperate to get whatever it was off his chest if he was willing to risk bringing down Shizune's wrath upon them.

"I only said that because I thought you and Haku were going out and I didn't want to cause trouble between you both so I thought the right thing to do would be to prevent the kiss from leading to anything else."

She took a sharp intake of breath. Her mind went blank. He thought that she and Haku were an item when Haku was so obviously gay? "Is this some kind of joke?" she hissed at him angrily. Neji quickly shook his head in reply. "You actually thought that I was the kind of girl who would cheat on her boyfriend?! What kind of person do you think I am?!" It was getting much more difficult for her to keep her voice down.

"Tenten and Neji," snapped Shizune sharply, suddenly appearing in front of their bench. Both students looked up at her with alarm. "I will not tolerate this kind of interruption in my class! You are both going to detention after school today." Both visibly shrunk in their seats and when Shizune returned to the front of the class to continue with the lesson, Tenten narrowed her eyes at Neji with extreme annoyance. So now he was getting her into trouble with the teachers? Was there anything he wouldn't do to make her life any worse than it already was? He simply gave her a small apologetic smile and shrugged, so Tenten kicked him as hard as she could under the table.

* * *

It was his first detention ever. The growing bruise on his leg throbbed when he accidentally knocked it against the table. Tenten had a mean kick, it must have been all the dancing she did. The silence in the room was heavy. Ibiki was taking detention that afternoon so everyone was silently doing study or some other approved quiet activity. If it had been Kakashi, things would have been much more relaxed as he let them listen to their ipods and sometimes even let them out early. However, with Ibiki around, the atmosphere amongst the students were much more tense as the stern scarred teacher had a habit of wandering up and down the classroom and looking over their shoulders to ensure they were not texting or doodling. If anyone was caught, he would set them lines to write out. Neji wondered briefly if Ibiki relished making the students nervous.

He and Tenten were not the only students in detention that afternoon. The usual detention gang were there too; Naruto, Kiba, Chouji and Shikamaru. Shikamaru was usually in trouble for sleeping in class, Chouji often got caught for eating in class and Naruto and Kiba just generally misbehaved. When Neji and Tenten had walked into the classroom after school finished, Naruto's jaw had dropped and he had expressed his surprise at seeing them there very loudly. Ibiki had immediately given the blonde boy lines to write out and would stand beside Naruto regularly to ensure he was actually writing them.

Tenten gave him dirty looks throughout detention. He was still obviously not forgiven. It just felt like he could no longer do anything right these days... But should he see the animosity as a good thing as opposed to indifference? It is often said that there is a thin line between hatred and love so if he was able to raise strong emotions of some sort in her, it meant that he still might have a chance right?

Shikamaru was staring at the both of them speculatively. His brilliant mind was probably putting two and two together.

The minutes ticked by agonisingly slowly.

_Tick tick tick._

Kiba was fidgeting terribly by the halfway mark. He stopped when Ibiki's shadow loomed ominously over his desk. Meanwhile, Naruto was rubbing his hand and rotating his wrist. When the menacing shadow fell upon his desk, he quickly bowed his head and went back to writing out his lines. Shikamaru had a textbook open with his head propped up by his hand. Neji wondered if the lazy boy was actually sleeping. It was impossible to tell because his head was bowed and his eyes were half-lidded. However, when Ibiki walked past, the younger boy languidly turned a page. It seemed like only he, Chouji and Tenten were actually doing some productive study.

_Tick tick tick._

Five minutes to go. He had just finished all his homework and began watching the other occupants of the detention room. Tenten too, had finished and was inspecting her fingernails. He had noticed that it was something she very rarely did unless she was bored out of her mind. Everyone else was watching the minute hand of the clock on the wall intently, willing it to move faster so they could escape. Finally, the minute hand struck 12 and Ibiki nodded at them, giving them permission to leave. All the students hurried out the doors and headed straight for the bus stop.

"Hey Neji, how come you were in detention today? You're usually such a goody-two shoes and all the teachers love you," Naruto immediately began babbling in his ear.

"None of your business," Neji growled in reply.

"Isn't it your first time?" Shikamaru pointed out unhelpfully.

Kiba nudged Tenten who was trudging along just behind them. "Hey Tenten, how come you were in detention too? Were you and Neji both in there for the same reason?"

She scowled and glared at him. If looks could kill he would be a dead man a hundred times over. "It was his fault, he kept talking and got us both into trouble," she snapped. Tenten increased her pace until she reached the bus stop first and sat down.

"Moodier than usual," observed Shikamaru in a low voice. "What are you both fighting about?"

Neji considered telling his friend to mind his own business but Shikamaru was smart. He was also the only one out of their group who had had anything close to experience with the opposite sex with that whole business with Temari. Perhaps Shikamaru could help him or at least give him some advice. "I'll tell you later," he told his lazy friend quietly.

* * *

"So she isn't actually going out with that guy?" Shikamaru chewed on a piece of long grass. They were hanging out in the park that was halfway between their houses.

"No, apparently he is, and I quote, 'the gayest person on the planet'," Neji replied dryly.

"Did you tell her that you thought she was going out with him?" Shikamaru asked, his brows furrowing together.

"Yes, that was why we ended up in detention. She didn't take it well because she isn't the kind of girl who would cheat on her boyfriend if she had one in the first place." The boy sighed and ran a hand through his long hair.

"Well it's easy, you have to prove to her how you really feel even if it means humiliating yourself for her sake to even the score between you both," Shikamaru stated simply before leaning back onto the ground to participate in his favourite past time, cloud-watching.

Neji blinked at the younger boy in confusion. "What exactly do you mean by that Nara?"

"A big romantic gesture," the spiky haired boy waved his arms out to emphasise his point. "I thought you were supposed to be a genius," he added disparagingly.

"Screw you, Nara."

"Hey I'm giving you advice here. You should be grateful."

"Okay," Neji said slowly, "what kind of big romantic gesture do you think I should do then?"

"I don't know, just write her some soppy poem or love song or something," muttered Shikamaru grumpily.

Love song. Neji froze, that was it. Serenading her was the answer. She had told him that she would love it if a guy ever serenaded her that time when they were talking at her dance concert. His shoulders tensed as he realised the enormity of the humiliation he would have to undergo. He didn't even know if he could sing in the first place...

* * *

**A/N:** I hope you liked the chapter and that it was worth the wait =P I am all for quality over quantity. Some people also mentioned that the last chapter felt different and I think I finally figured out what it was.... I had included Hinata's viewpoint (without even realising it) when previously it had always only been Neji or Tenten's. I don't think I will be doing that again.

Well feel free to leave a review, I like reading them and they DO motivate me to sit in front of a computer to write because I feel very guilty when I get all these lovely reviews and then I take ages to update. (Otherwise I would be out there enjoying my life, not that I don't get any enjoyment from this, but real experience is something I happen to appreciate a lot more)

Oh and Happy Valentines to you all in advance =)


	12. Of Basketballs, music and plans

I know I told a lot of you that I was hoping to update around Easter and that did not happen at all. I'm sorry for my horrendous updating habits! Uni has just been piling on the exams and assignments and I've hardly had time to just sit and write. Thank you for being incredibly patient with me though, I hope you like this chapter even though it is rather long. Next chapter will probably be the last chapter, I think.

**Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto, only pieces of Naruto merchandise that people have bought for me... **

* * *

**Of Basketballs, music and plans**

Neji gazed out the window and watched the outside scenery rush past. Every so often he would cast a glance at a certain girl sitting a few rows in front of him who was pointedly ignoring him. She was listening to her ipod and he could see her foot tapping to an invisible beat. He frowned slightly, wondering what kind of music she was in to. He would need Hinata to do some covert investigations on his behalf in order to set his plan into action.

Neji and Hinata were sitting in the backseat with Naruto, Sasuke and Sakura. Luckily for Neji, Hinata was sitting in between him and Naruto and was acting as a barrier. There was only so much of Naruto he could take in the mornings. Unfortunately for Hinata, she was stuck next to Naruto who was yammering away in her ear about anything and everything. Five seconds ago he was talking about his favourite basketball team and the training techniques they employed; now he was telling his cousin about Grand Theft Auto. Knowing Hinata, she would be completely lost. She didn't follow basketball and barely knew the difference between an Xbox, a Wii and a Playstation. But she seemed to enjoy being Naruto's audience and would nod, smile shyly and stutter out a question to encourage him. On the other side of Naruto, Sasuke merely grunted in reply to every question Sakura threw at him in an attempt to start a conversation. Finally in desperation, Sakura started asking Naruto questions as well.

While the blonde's attention was momentarily diverted, Neji leaned towards his cousin and murmured quietly, "Could you do me a favour and find out what kind of music Tenten listens to and what her favourite songs are?"

She gave him a quizzical look.

"Research," he explained.

Hinata raised an eyebrow and nodded slowly. No doubt she would interrogate him about it when they got home. Naruto was already tugging at her arm and distracting her.

When the morning school bus finally pulled up at the front gate, Neji could see a long queue of students lined up. He groaned inwardly, Ibiki was having one of his inspection days again. He even had a table set up with shoe polish and nail polish remover (now that they had girls at the school) for the students who flouted the uniform rules.

Hinata straightened her shirt and smoothed her skirt nervously next to him. Neji wondered why she was so nervous about uniform inspection days when she never broke the uniform code anyway.

"Shikamaru," Ibiki looked the half-asleep boy up and down disapprovingly. "Go get your shirt ironed, you're a disgrace." The lazy boy sighed and walked slowly towards the school nurse's office where they had an ironing board and muttered 'troublesome' under his breath as soon as he was out of earshot.

"Ino," snapped the bald, scarred teacher. "Nail polish is not part of the school uniform, go get it removed." The blonde girl pouted and joined the line of girls forming at the table to wait her turn for the nail polish remover.

Ibiki confiscated a boy's cap and a girl's bracelet and placed it in the basket along with everything else he had already confiscated that morning. "Sakura," Ibiki said in a low dangerous tone. "What are our school uniform colours?"

"White and navy, sir," she replied nervously.

The teacher continued the questioning, "And what colour is your hair ribbon?"

"Red, sir," she whispered. Ibiki held his hand out and she pulled her ribbon out and placed it in the basket he was holding.

"Naruto Uzumaki, where is your tie?"

Naruto grinned at the fierce teacher then laughed sheepishly while scratching the back of his head. Only Naruto would be mad enough to try to joke with Ibiki. "Well it's in the laundry; I spilt ramen on it yesterday, sir."

"I'll see you in detention this afternoon. Kiba, that is not the school jumper." The other boy sighed and removed his hooded jumper and placed it in the basket with the other confiscated belongings. Ibiki passed by Neji and Hinata, looked them up and down and grunted with approval before moving down further down the line. Good thing, he had gotten Hanabi to polish their shoes this morning before they left while waiting for Hinata to finish getting ready. Hinata was taking longer and longer these days to get ready for school. He had a bad feeling that she had a crush on Naruto. Now Naruto was a good guy, but he was quite the pervert as well and he didn't want him corrupting his sweet innocent cousin. The cousins left the queue and waited under a tree for the rest of their friends.

"Tenten, go polish your shoes." She shrugged casually and went to join the shoe polish line. Neji continued to watch her as she bent over to polish her shoes. Without bending her knees. Damn she was flexible and had a really nice ass and legs. The hem of her school skirt was riding up very nicely, revealing her toned thighs and…

Lee nudged him sharply in the ribs and glared at him disapprovingly. "Stop perving, Neji. It is very un-gentlemanly to do so!"

Neji scowled at Lee and turned away. His cousin giggled softly next to him, having overheard their exchange.

* * *

Most of the boys had disappeared that lunch to practice for the upcoming basketball game against Sound after scoffing all their food down in a hurry. They were going to be sick after barely chewing their food then exercising, thought Tenten. It was probably a good thing though, she wouldn't have to deal with the current bane of her life. Neji had been spending a lot of time studying her intently surreptitiously, or so he thought. It was starting to worry her that he was up to some evil plan. Hinata sat next to her fidgeting. Tenten felt slightly guilty, she may have been unconsciously avoiding the younger girl but only because she had been avoiding Neji. Their other friends who didn't play basketball continued to carry on a conversation about the post-game victory party that was going to be held.

"So Tenten, what music have you been listening to lately?" asked Hinata hesitantly.

That was awkward. Were things really that bad between her and Hinata now too? "Everything really, I've started listening to The Presets recently because Haku's been trying to get me into more electronic dance stuff," she replied as casually as she could. "What about you?" she turned the question back on to the other girl.

"Oh mostly indie pop-rock stuff," replied Hinata looking down at her hands folded in her lap bashfully.

"Like who?" pressed Tenten.

"Emiliana Torrini, Cat Power and um The Shins," Hinata paused as she tried to remember which other artists she listened to. Tenten was pleasantly surprised that Hinata listened to more alternative music, she knew most of the artists too. Sakura and Ino's taste in music was pretty mainstream so whenever she hung out with the younger girls, that was what she ended up listening to. She had always assumed Hinata listened to the same stuff as the other two girls. "I also like The Magic Numbers and Tegan & Sara…" Hinata continued to list off.

"I love Tegan & Sara too! I listen to most of the artists you listen to too!" Tenten gushed quite happily. "Do you listen to Damien Rice and Iron & Wine? Or Coldplay?" she continued excitedly. She started thinking of all the music swaps she could do with Hinata, she wanted the new albums of some of those artists. Tenten usually got most of her music off Haku as he was always trying to 'expand her music horizons'.

"I haven't gotten around to listening to those ones too much, I think Neji might, he gave me all my music and I'm still trying to get through them all…" Hinata trailed off when she saw Tenten's expression fall as soon as she mentioned her cousin. She cast her eyes downwards and opened her mouth to apologise but then she changed her mind and shut it again.

Tenten took a deep breath and tried to ask Hinata a few more music related questions as if nothing had happened, but everything had become awkward again. Luckily things were saved by Sakura and Ino fussing over Hinata. Apparently she had been taking some really cool photos for her Art classes. "Hey Tenten, are you going to come to the basketball game to support our friends?" piped up Lee in her ear rather loudly. She winced slightly and nodded. Although she wasn't that keen on supporting Neji, all the other boys were still her friends and she would go if only to support them.

"I wish we had more girls, then we could set up our own teams for sports," sighed Sakura wistfully.

Ino sighed in agreement. "The only thing we can do at the moment is tennis, athletics and swimming, it's so boring."

It was boring and it sucked. Team sports usually required a certain number of girls, preferably from the same grade, and it was a big limiting factor at their school. When the boys in her class saw her pitch for baseball during PE class they had wanted her on the team but the only problem was that she was a girl and they only had boys' teams at their school. Gai-sensei was trying to set up some mixed-team sports in the meantime but by the time it was up and running properly she would probably have graduated by then. "We still have dancing though," joked Tenten.

"But that's outside of school," complained Sakura.

"Oh Tenten, I kept forgetting to ask you, have you decided whether to take up that dance company's offer or not?" asked Lee suddenly.

"You got an offer from a professional dance company already?" exclaimed Sakura excitedly. "That's so awesome!"

Tenten pressed her lips together briefly, she had wanted to keep it quiet. "I'm still considering it. If I join them it means I won't be able to finish school."

"As if you wouldn't take up the offer and get out of school as fast as you can," Ino squealed. Tenten laughed weakly and tried to change the subject. Normally she would have turned down the offer from the dance company without a second thought, because she wanted to finish school and she reasoned that she could always audition again later. She would hopefully have improved her dancing by then as well. But lately, with all the issues that were going on between her and Neji, she felt inclined to accept the offer just so she could get away from him.

Hinata stayed quiet and stared at Tenten, wondering how her cousin would react if Tenten left the school.

* * *

"You are to go out there today and kill Sound then we are going to the finals and we are going to kick Suna's arse," Kakashi drawled. "Does anyone have any questions?"

Neji sighed, Kakashi gave the worst pep talks in the world. He cast an eye over the rest of his team as he leaned casually against a locker. There was a lot of nervous energy in the room and he just hoped that their team would be able to harness that energy productively. Naruto was practically vibrating with anticipation while the rest of the team were trying to hide their pre-game nerves. "So what's our game plan?" Neji asked Shikamaru who was slouched against the wall.

"There isn't much of one. Sound don't actually have any really fantastic players, they just play dirty."

The team captain sighed, if that was the case, he wondered exactly how dirty they played if Sound managed to get through the inter-school basketball competition merely by playing dirty… they must be bribing the referee or something underhanded like that... or breaking other player's kneecaps. Neji rubbed his temples, he needed to focus. "Time for us to go out," he announced. "Naruto, can you lead the team cheer when we get out there?" They needed a rousing pre-game cheer to pump them up for the game and who better than Naruto to raise their spirits?

Naruto beamed proudly back at him, "Of course Captain!"

The team marched out onto the basketball court with Naruto and Kiba bounding ahead energetically and the rest of the team following more calmly behind. The crowd rose and cheered deafeningly for them. It was one of the good things about playing a home game, the only problem was that there was a lot more pressure riding on this game. There was a lot of green in the crowd tonight which was probably a good thing. But it had always irked him that the school sporting colours were green and white even though the school uniform was white and navy. It just didn't make sense at all.

Then out of the corner of his eye, Neji noticed a few familiar faces in the Sound basketball team and his blood began to boil. It was that asshole from the party who had been bothering Hinata. "You've got to be kidding me," Sasuke muttered under his breath. Naruto's jaw dropped, then his fists clenched.

Neji's eyes had narrowed dangerously as he was forced to shake hands with the sneering team captain for Sound, also known unofficially among Konoha Grammar students as The Creep. It turned out that his name was Kidoumaru and he remembered Neji as well. Both boys shook hands while trying to crush the other's fingers at the same time. It was going to extremely gratifying to destroy Sound on court tonight.

* * *

It had to be one of the most aggressive games of basketball she had seen in a long time. It was almost like watching a game of ice hockey. Shino had actually been knocked over by one of the players quite hard and Kiba had been tripped. It looked like a fight would start out any minute now too. Naruto and one of the boys on the other team had started shoving each other quite hard fifteen minutes into the game and had already been sent off the court. It was quite exciting.

Lee was screaming excitedly throughout the game, waving the school banner around and had managed to get most of the people in their section to join in with his cheers. He had a lot of school spirit. Tenten wondered if she should have gotten ear plugs. On one side of her and Lee, the other girls and Sai were also cheering enthusiastically. Well in Sai's case he was just standing and waving a banner without any expression. On the other side, Temari, Gaara and Kankuro from Suna were watcing the game intently because they would be playing whoever won. But Temari was also there to cheer Shikamaru on.

Tenten tried to make conversation with the older girl. "So if Konoha wins this game and plays Suna, who are you going to go for?"

"Suna of course," replied Temari breezily. "If Shikamaru doesn't like it, he's just going to have to deal."

Tenten smiled in response, wondering how on earth Temari and Shikamaru got along. Temari was opinionated, independent and bossy whereas Shikamaru was lazy, hated confrontations of any kind and being told what to do. Opposites attracted in their case.

The buzzer rang, it was half time. Konoha was leading by a fair bit, they just needed to make sure that they maintained their lead.

"We'll have to watch out for Hyuuga and Uchiha if we play them," Tenten overheard Kankuro saying to his younger brother. "Hey Temari," Kankuro poked his sister in the arm rather ungently. "Did Shikamaru reveal anything to you about his team?"

Temari swatted at him irritably. "You can see their game for yourself," she growled. "We don't usually give each other insider tips about other basketball teams when we hang out, we have better things to talk about."

"We need to watch out for Nara and Uzumaki as well," Gaara suddenly said quietly. "Nara always gets himself into the right position to get the ball and pass it on to his team mates. Uzumaki is unpredictable, when he plays well he plays extremely well."

Tenten turned to stare at the redhead. She was impressed, Gaara had excellent analytical skills. No wonder he was already captain of his school's basketball team already even though he was one of the younger players. However, she was distracted from her staring by Ino tugging excitedly on her arm. "Tenten, the other team's captain is trying to pick a fight with Neji!"

She turned to see the player from Sound standing in front of Neji saying something, but she was too far away to hear anything. It was the creep from the party who had tried to take advantage of Hinata! Tenten couldn't believe that Neji hadn't already tried to throttle the other guy's neck. He had amazing self-control but she could see the tension in his shoulders. It looked like he was about to snap any second soon. Tenten could hear Hinata's breathing getting faster as the younger girl became more anxious for her cousin, knowing that he was on the verge of losing his temper. Hinata was going to start hyperventilating soon at this rate.

Suddenly Neji lunged at the Sound Captain and the scuffle between those two turned into a full out brawl as other members of both teams decided to join in. The crowd gasped, antics like this were not common at all. Maybe at Sound, but definitely not at Konoha. The teachers and referee waded into the foray and systematically began detaching the boys from each other and breaking up the fight. Even Kakashi looked furious for once, and he was usually so laid back. Neji had managed to give the Sound Captain a black eye. Unfortunately, he was in a great deal of trouble because it was quite clear that he had thrown the first punch. Sound looked smug, pleased with themselves that Neji was being sent off court. The smugness faded though when the referee also sent their captain off court as well, meaning that they too were losing their best player. This was bad, Konoha was now down two of their best players whereas Sound only lost one.

"This is quite exciting," Temari commented cheerfully. "If only Suna's games were like this too."

Both her brothers glared at her, before returning to their discussion of game tactics.

"This is terrible," whimpered Hinata miserably.

Lee looked absolutely stunned, "That was so un-youthful! What on earth has gotten into Neji?!"

* * *

Neji fumed. He knew he shouldn't have allowed Kidoumaru get to him like that. In fact he had expected some trash talk, like questioning his gender (he tended to get that one a lot because of his hair) but those disgusting comments he was making about Hinata were really out of line. What made him finally snap though was when Kidoumaru started insulting the 'bitch' who'd tricked him and his friends into thinking the cops were coming. Even though Tenten wasn't his girlfriend, he wasn't going to tolerate anything that came out of Kidoumaru's mouth that related to her.

"What is wrong with you, Neji," snapped Kakashi angrily. "Are you trying to sabotage your team?"

Neji scowled at the floor between his sneakers angrily. "No, Kakashi-sensei. I shouldn't have let him get to me like that."

"You'd better not let it happen again or else I'll take you off Captaincy. I'm very disappointed in your behaviour on court," his coach told him sternly. Kakashi's expression softened slightly, he knew it was very out of character for Neji so something had to be up. "What did he say to you?"

Neji picked his words very carefully, "It's personal, Kakashi-sensei."

The silver-haired teacher narrowed his eyes as he studied his seething student carefully. "I know you and the other boys were in a fight recently, outside of school. If you start getting into fights again, I will give you detention and I will contact your uncle and inform him about your behaviour."

Neji's head shot up and he eyed Kakashi warily. He knew the teacher would go through with the threat and he definitely did not want his uncle to be called by the school. "I understand, sir," he said quietly.

* * *

Konoha had won, they had managed to keep their lead for the rest of the game. The mood of the team, however, was glum. As soon as the game was over, they had all had a dressing down from Kakashi in the lockers about their disappointing behaviour. Neji and Naruto had been especially morose as they had let their team down by getting sent off the court. There wasn't going to be any after-party celebration tonight.

Neji sighed and ran his hand through his hair. Hinata was waiting for him outside the lockers, studying the ground. She looked up when she heard his approach and forced a smile. "Are you alright Neji?"

"Could be better," he murmured. Hinata fell into step beside him. He was driving home since his uncle was overseas again. It was probably a good thing otherwise he'd be getting another lecture from Hiashi as well. Hanabi was at a sleepover at her friend's house but Neji wasn't looking forward to picking his youngest cousin up the next morning. Her friend's mum eyed him like a piece of meat and was much too touchy-feely with him for his liking.

"You know how you asked me to find out what kind of music Tenten's into?" asked Hinata slowly.

Neji grunted in reply.

"She likes Coldplay and Damien Rice and someone else I can't remember the name of," Hinata continued. He nodded to himself, he knew all those artists, and he should be able to find a suitable song to use for his plan. His cousin cast a curious glance at him, "So what is this all about?"

"Part of my evil plan to takeover the world," he replied sarcastically. He didn't need to let other people in on his plan yet.

Hinata sighed and shook her head at him. They had finally reached their car. "You know she got offered a place at a dance company so she may leave school to dance."

Neji froze in his tracks, his hand on the door handle.

"Are you going to stop her?" his cousin asked him very quietly.

He looked down at his hand where it rested on the car door. Strands of hair had come loose from his ponytail and obscured his expression from Hinata, for which he was grateful. It looked like the stakes had risen even higher and there was no way he could allow his plan to fail now. "I'll just have to try my best, there's nothing else I can do," Neji said quietly, half to himself and half in reply to the question posed by his cousin.

* * *

**A/N:** I am pretty sure I'm dragging out the ending of this story because I'm so fond of it and don't really want it to end. But it does mean I can start working on finishing my other chapter fic which has been neglected for the longest time.

Just so you have an approximate idea of when the next update could be…I don't think I will be updating until after exams are over and I'm on holidays. That probably won't be until July.

Ok, hope you liked the chapter! Please feel free to leave a review cos they make me happy (except for flames, that would make me rather unhappy but if you really feel the need to flame me I guess there isn't anything I can do about it except read it then cry myself to sleep over it lol)


	13. Endings and New Beginnings

I know… I am the worst updater in the world. I am slightly horrified myself to see that it's taken me well over a year to write the last chapter… Real life has been keeping me very extremely occupied and this year has been eventful to say the least... Since it's flooding where I am at the moment and I'm stuck at home, I finally got around to finishing this instead of going out to enjoy myself. Also thought I should upload this before the electricity gets cut so the last parts may have mistakes as I haven't gone over it as much. This has been sitting in my head and half written for so long so I really hope I have done this justice.

**Disclaimer: I do not own any rights in Naruto but I do own various pieces of Naruto merchandise like a Neji pencil that I have absolutely no use for and will probably never ever use. I just got it because it had Neji on it.**

* * *

**Endings and New Beginnings**

Tenten didn't consider herself a particularly sentimental girl. Well obviously she had feelings like every other girl but she wasn't the type to keep pressed flowers in a secret diary where she wrote the name of her crush over and over again. However, she was a sucker for displays of affection. Well the tasteful ones anyway, not the disgusting 'please get a room' ones. She thought it was really sweet when she saw old couples still holding hands, when a guy kissed a girl really tenderly on the forehead or when a guy would do something he normally would never do, just to see the girl he was in love with smile. Like buying her flowers, or dressing nicely for once, or buying her that item she had been eyeing in the shops for weeks or even just singing to her.

She wondered why she was getting so jealous just from looking at all the couples at the shopping centre. It never used to happen to her until _he_ came along. She scowled and chewed on the pink plastic straw poking out of her coke can. Maybe she was just getting to the age where her biological clock had started ticking or something like that. Ok, it was far too soon for her biological clock to start ticking and she was most definitely not becoming clucky but it would be so nice, for once, to have someone who didn't play crazy mind games.

Tenten watched as Naruto kept making Hinata blush without realising it just by shifting his chair slightly closer so he could hear her soft voice over the background noise in the food court since she was the only person willing to listen to his story. Ino and Sakura were unashamedly checking out guys from Suna Grammar and giggling away. She would have happily joined them if only she wasn't in such a foul mood today. It was over the most ridiculous thing as well and it was all _his_ fault for turning her into one of those psycho jealous girls even though they weren't even dating in the first place. She knew that it wasn't like Sakura was hitting onto Neji in the first place but it still irked her to see him give any other girl his full and undivided attention. Sakura had simply needed help with a maths problem and the two guys she would normally ask for help, namely Sasuke or Shikamaru in that order of preference, were still lining up for lunch. So she had asked the next best person who turned out to be Neji who had been, admittedly, minding his own business listening to his ipod like the rude antisocial bastard he was. Still, seeing Sakura leaning so close to him, squinting at his handwriting trying to decipher what it was, flamed waves of jealousy in her that Tenten had no idea existed.

"Earth to Tenten," said Ino waving her hand in front of her face.

Tenten startled then plastered an apologetic smile on her face, but it felt more like a grimace. "Sorry Ino, what did you say?"

"I was asking whether you knew where Shikamaru had run off to after class? He said he was going to hang out at the food court with us but he never showed. All the other guys have no idea." Ino twirled the end of her ponytail as she spoke.

The older girl shrugged, "I have no idea."

"He's hiding something," the blonde girl stated firmly.

"Really?" said Sakura smirking, "Asuma's probably giving him extra homework for falling asleep in class again."

"It's my woman's intuition," Ino told her loftily. "I know Shikamaru well and I know that he's up to something but I just can't figure out what."

"Well he's here now so you can ask him," her pink haired friend replied, jerking her thumb in the lazy boy's direction as he strolled over to their table.

"Where have you been?" demanded Ino.

"School," he drawled mockingly.

"Well duh, what I meant was how come it took you so long to get here?"

Shikamaru's eyes flickered to Tenten's with a glint of something she couldn't identify and the side of his mouth quirked up as he answered with the straightest face, "I had to answer the call of nature and do a number two. It was great in case you were wondering Ino, I feel so much better now."

Sakura and Ino shrieked at him for giving way too much information and Tenten tried to stifle a snigger. If it was something he came up with on the spot, it was an ingenious way of stopping Ino in her tracks before she could seriously start interrogating him. But now she was starting to suspect that something was going on that she should know about. Maybe it was the glance that Shikamaru had given her, it had seemed too speculative, like he knew something was about to happen to her but he wasn't telling. Tenten stirred her drink with her straw pensively and wondered if she was imagining things now.

* * *

Hinata opened the front door for Neji with a quizzical expression on her face. "Why are you home so late? You don't normally stay out this late, where have you been?"

"Training," Neji mumbled and brushed past her, dropping his school bag on the floor unceremoniously and heading straight to the refrigerator for something to drink. Well you could call it training his voice right? He certainly wasn't going to tell her what he had really been doing. In fact, he wouldn't have told anyone if he could have helped it but he needed help with the school sound system so he had had to rope in Shikamaru. Shikamaru had then insisted on watching him practise so that he knew exactly what he was getting into. Neji hadn't been happy about it, he didn't like people seeing him play when he hadn't mastered most of the piece he had to perform. He was a perfectionist and he knew he had a long way to go before being able to do a good job of singing the song. He didn't even know whether he could actually sing. Shikamaru had given no hint of what he thought of his singing either.

She followed him into the kitchen. "But everyone else was at the shopping centre with us," Hinata pointed out suspiciously.

"Extra training," he snapped. Why on earth was Hinata suddenly asking him all these questions and not leaving him alone like she normally did? He downed the remainder of the milk in the fridge straight from the carton.

"Neji!" Hinata reprimanded him. "Don't do that! That's disgusting!" She snatched the empty carton away from him. He ignored her, and went upstairs to his room. Hinata continued shadowing him. "Neji, your behaviour is starting to really worry me," she exclaimed. "You've been staying back at school almost everyday and you spend all lunch _somewhere_ by yourself as soon as you've finished eating. You don't talk to anyone anymore!"

He rolled his eyes, but his back was to her so she didn't see it as he was rummaging through his drawers for a clean set of clothes. Neji made his way to the bathroom, but Hinata kept following him. "Neji, talk to me, I just want to help you," his cousin continued almost plaintively.

He turned around to face her finally, "Hinata, I would really like to have a shower so if you wouldn't mind not following me into the bathroom that would be much appreciated." Then he closed the door as politely as he could in her face.

* * *

Tenten wasn't sure how much worse school could get but apparently her PE class was going to cover sex education today. Of all the teachers who could have taken their class, it had to be Gai sensei. At first he had given an incredibly long spiel about how when students their age were in the midst of the 'Springtime of their Youth' they began to become curious about their bodies and members of the opposite sex as their bodies underwent a very youthful change. Then it slowly went downhill from there.

"Now when a man loves a woman very much," then Gai cleared his throat awkwardly "or when a man loves another man very much or a woman loves another woman very much…" The entire class burst out laughing. He waved at them to quiet down before continuing, "They participate in a very special act of making love." Gai paused in his speech and looked around the room solemnly, "Now some of you may engage in casual sex so it is very important for you to understand that you should treat beautiful flowers like our Tenten with respect and take precautions." The class began sniggering once more and Tenten thought she was going to die from embarrassment. It really did not help that she was the only girl in this class of boys and why, oh why, did Gai sensei have to single her out?

"Shut up," snapped Neji to the guys and they quietened down.

Then Gai decided it would be helpful if he gave them a quick revision of how sex and different types of contraception worked. Unfortunately Gai liked to emphasise the important points with a lot of hand movements. Approximately half the class was sniggering away immaturely, finding it incredibly hilarious every time Gai mentioned the word 'penis', 'vagina' or 'sex'. The other half was absolutely mortified like herself and Lee. Neji, on the other hand, just looked extremely bored and stony-faced when she sneaked a glance at him.

Suddenly Gai started handing out condoms. Tenten wanted to sink into the ground and die. She turned a bright red and handed the box on to the next person, Lee, without taking any.

One of their classmates, Takeo, who was always joking around shoved a handful of condoms into Neji's hands with a wide grin. "Here mate, you need to let off some steam." Tenten tried her hardest to stifle her giggle and a couple of other boys who had witnessed it sniggered. Neji flushed furiously and roughly tried to give them back to the other boy but Gai was already collecting the box with all the remaining plastic packets in it so there was nothing else he could do without making a scene except shove them into his pockets to dispose of another time.

"Ok class, I'm going to finish off the last ten minutes of class now by showing you a really great slideshow!" Gai announced cheerfully. He struggled briefly with the projector, and then he revealed the first of many horrifying pictures. "This, my wonderfully youthful class, is a picture of Chlamydia!"

There was a thud as Lee fainted next to her.

* * *

Neji wasn't very hungry because the traumatising images from that sex education slideshow they had been forced to watch seemed to have been burnt onto his eyeballs. He pushed his dinner around his plate miserably. It was a pity since Hinata's cooking was always pretty good. His uncle gave him a concerned look as Neji, being the growing teenage boy he was, usually had a pretty big appetite. "Are you not feeling well?"

"I'm fine, just not feeling hungry today," he mumbled and forced himself to take another bite.

Hinata gave him a sympathetic look, she had heard about how his grade had been given the 'talk' that day. Her grade would receive the 'talk' next year. Neji had a sneaking suspicion that she would faint during the slideshow; she was never very good with things like that. Hinata excused herself from the table as she wanted to do a load of washing since they were all running out of school uniforms to wear. His uncle had been banned from using the washing machine years ago ever since he failed to separate the colours and turned all their white school shirts and socks pink.

Hanabi went to grab some fruits from the kitchen and handed them to her father. Hiashi sliced them up deftly to make a fruit salad while Neji struggled to finish his dinner. There was a sudden shriek from the laundry room where Hinata was. They all rushed over to her to see what was wrong. Neji wondered if it was a spider that had scared her again. When they got there, she was holding his pants and a handful of plastic packets she had taken out of his pocket. Hinata usually checked all their pockets before putting clothes in the machine because Hiashi and Hanabi had a habit of leaving all kinds of things in their pockets. She turned to him with a horrified expression and thrust the handful of plastic packets into his face. Neji paled when he finally realised what it was she was holding. "Why do you have so many condoms in your pocket?" she shrieked at him.

"I was going to throw them out, I wasn't going to use them!"

Hiashi ushered Hanabi out of the room but Neji could still hear her ask her father innocently what were condoms. He was so screwed, and it wasn't even like he had had the opportunity to impregnate anyone. Would it be wrong to kill Hinata at this point of time? His uncle returned with his lips in a tight thin line. Neji knew it was not a good sign.

"Neji, I have become very concerned about you lately because of your behaviour. First you get into fights, you've suddenly become even more anti-social and now you are using condoms." His uncle's voice was dripping with disappointment and why did it seem like all of a sudden his family was holding an intervention?

Neji opened his mouth to protest but his uncle raised his hand to stop him.

"Look, I want you to know that if you need to talk to me about anything at all, you can come to me and I will try my best to help you," his uncle continued gravely.

"I'm not using those condoms," Neji growled through clenched teeth.

"Then why do you have so many in your pocket?"

"Because some idiot at school thought it would be hilarious to make me take a whole bunch during sex education, I was going to throw them in the bin but I forgot they were in my pocket until now." Neji watched his uncle carefully, but he couldn't tell if his uncle believed him or not.

Hiashi nodded and told him simply to finish his dinner. Neji went to his room instead and groaned into his pillow. He knew that this episode would not be forgotten by his uncle and he wondered how much more humiliation and trouble he was going to suffer at school when he finally set his plan in action.

* * *

Strange, Neji didn't turn up for Maths when he had been in all their other classes this morning. Tenten only noticed this because he sat two rows in front of her and it wasn't hard to miss the empty seat. It was the last five minutes of school and Asuma-sensei was giving them homework to do for the week, the whiteboard marker squeaking occasionally as he set out the pages for them to complete. She dutifully copied them down into her school diary and eyed the clock hanging on the wall. The bell finally rang and their class was dismissed from school.

She twirled the numbers on her combination lock rapidly and pulled out her books. "Hey Tenten," said Lee breathlessly, having run up to her from somewhere, "What are you up to this afternoon?"

"Home, homework, the usual," she said slowly wondering why Lee was asking her such an obvious thing. Tenten swung her bags over both shoulders and started walking towards the bus stop. Lee seemed slightly agitated. He opened his mouth to say something when suddenly music started playing over the school PA system. The piano chords were very familiar and Tenten cocked her head to one side to listen. The Scientist by Coldplay. Odd, since when did the school start playing music over the PA system, especially good music like this?

Then the singing started. It was definitely not the Coldplay lead singer's voice, it was deeper and huskier and sounded strangely familiar.

"That's weird," Tenten gestured vaguely at the PA system, "They don't usually play Coldplay and I don't think I've heard this version before." She shifted the bags on her shoulders and began walking towards the bus stop.

Lee hurried after her, "So do you like this version?"

Tenten shrugged, "It's not bad, the singer's voice sounds really familiar but I can't quite remember where I've heard him before." Lee suddenly stopped walking and she turned around and gave him a questioning look. He seemed to have something he really needed to get off his chest. "What is it Lee?" she sighed, trying to stay patient.

"I was just wondering if maybe you're being a little harsh to Neji? He's been so down lately… I'm getting worried about him…"

"Oh so has Neji been spreading rumours about me?" she snapped. Great Lee was taking his side.

"No, I had to force it out of him. He wouldn't give me the details but he said it was his fault and he seems genuinely sorry Tenten, maybe you could start trying to forgive him?

Tenten opened her mouth to retort but she was interrupted by the sudden arrival of Naruto running up to them waving his arms frantically.

Naruto bent over to try to catch his breath, "Guys, you HAVE to come quick, Neji's on the rooftop, I think he's gonna jump!"

"What? Are you serious? I have to stop my rival! He's far too young!" gasped Lee as he ran towards the main school courtyard, with Naruto and Tenten close behind him.

She got a sinking feeling in her stomach as she sprinted after Lee. Had she been too harsh to Neji and caused him to become depressed? He hadn't seemed depressed but if he was, she didn't want to be the reason why he was about to throw himself off the top of a building. Tenten was starting to feel guilty for being so cold towards Neji to punish him for the way he had treated her previously.

There was already a crowd gathering in the courtyard of students and teachers when they arrived. The three of them skidded to a halt then Lee and Naruto began pushing their way to the front of the crowd, yanking Tenten along with them.

Her jaw dropped open when she saw Neji standing close to the edge of the roof of the main building… and was he playing a keyboard? And was that him singing into a microphone?

"_Nobody said it was easy…"_

Tenten stared up with wide brown eyes, he was singing her favourite song, The Scientist by Coldplay. His eyes locked with hers as he continued to sing. How did he even know it was her favourite song? Then the penny finally dropped, he was serenading her. He was trying to apologise through the song and ask for her forgiveness in possibly the most embarrassing way for him possible instead of pestering her until she finally gave in. Something inside her fluttered wildly and she suspected it might have been her heart.

"_No one ever said it would be so hard…"_

Someone pushed Naruto out of the way and was now standing next to her. Tenten turned around to see Principal Tsunade with a crackling loudspeaker that she was now holding up to use.

"Hyuuga Neji, you'd better come down this instant!" she boomed. The nearby students covered their ears. She spun around to the two nearest teachers who just so happened to be Yamato and Kakashi and hissed at them to get up onto the rooftops and bring him down. They ran, well Yamato obediently sprinted while Kakashi lingered to survey the scene for a bit longer, his eyes crinkled with amusement.

Neji glanced at the principal, then ignored her instructions. He took the microphone off the stand and stepped up onto the ledge. _"I'm going back to the start…"_

The final note hung in the air suspensefully. Then the crowd of students below broke out into applause.

"NEJI STEP AWAY FROM THE LEDGE!" screeched their principal.

He bowed deeply with a flourish, and the crowd gasped thinking that he had momentarily lost his balance. Neji then stepped back down from the ledge. Then out of nowhere Yamato and Kakashi, who had sneaked up behind him in the meantime, tackled him to the ground.

"TAKE HIM TO MY OFFICE IMMEDIATELY I WILL DEAL WITH HIM THERE!" bellowed Principal Tsunade over the loudspeaker to the teachers, nearly bursting the eardrums of everyone present. Then she turned around to the excited crowd of students. They didn't see stunts pulled like this very often by other students, let alone such a stunt by one of the school's highest achievers. "Scram! All of you! Go home, there's nothing to see here anymore!" she yelled over the loudspeaker.

When no one moved, she spoke very slowly and clearly into loudspeaker, "Any student who is still here by the time I count to 10 will be getting detention for the rest of the term. One, two, three…"

The crowd scattered. Except for a slightly stunned brunette girl who wandered away slowly to the nearest bench she could find to sit down and process for a moment.

* * *

"Have you been feeling depressed lately Neji?" asked Tsunade very slowly and carefully, her eyes concerned and watching him intensely like a hawk.

"Yes, I feel fine. I apologise for my behaviour and it won't happen again," he replied evenly.

"Have you been having problems at home? School?" The interrogation and probing continued. It was going to be a while before he could get out of that office and go home to crawl under his bed to die. If Tenten had still not forgiven him after this he was going to have to change schools for sure, if they'd accept him after this stunt…

"Neji, if there have been any issues that have been going on, it is very important for you to be able to come to me, any of the teachers or the school councillor because the wellbeing of every single student that attends this school is of the utmost importance to me." The blonde woman continued to watch him carefully as he sat there thinking about how to respond.

"I once was young too, believe it or not, and I know the adolescent years can be a very difficult time. I know that you don't have many strong female role models that you can comfortably go to at home, but that is exactly what I, and your other teachers, are here for. I'm here to just listen if that is what you want."

Neji briefly considered admitting to her that his behaviour was all due to trying to impress a girl that he was infatuated with, then he remembered how bad her temper was. He smiled politely at her and shook his head, "I haven't been having any problems."

Tsunade continued boring holes into the back of his head with a look that told him that she knew there was a lot more going on than he let on and she was patient enough to wait for him to spit it out. She started tapping her blood red fingernails against the table surface. That woman was frighteningly good at playing mind games with people.

He looked down at his feet, and shifted uncomfortably. "I was trying to impress a girl," muttered Neji.

"I see," she said flatly. "And there wasn't any safer way you could have impressed her without risking death and nearly falling off the roof of the school building?"

He hadn't nearly fallen off the roof of the school building, he thought irritably.

"Well Romeo, consider yourself lucky that I'm feeling kind today. You will be having detention for the rest of the year and you will have to see the school counsellor for an assessment and you have to join the school choir."

Neji's jaw nearly dropped open, he had to join the school choir? Of all the punishments he had been expecting, joining a school choir was definitely bottom of the list but was possibly the worst one regardless. Kurenai sensei, the teacher who ran the choir, was a nice teacher and he had nothing against her but she made her choir do bad dance actions and wear stupid costumes. Then she made her choir perform in front of the entire school during assembly.

"Why so glum Neji? I'd hardly call that a punishment for you since you seem to enjoy singing in front of the entire school already," Tsunade said sweetly. Naruto was right all along, she WAS an evil old hag.

Her eyes then narrowed at him, "Now get out of my office, you've caused me enough grief today."

Neji scrambled to get out of there before she could think of any more torturous punishments to give him.

Tsunade chuckled to herself as she pulled out the small bottle of sake she kept in her bottom right desk drawer that she kept locked at all times. She was really just doing that boy favour, he had a fine voice and Kurenai would be so happy to have more new male talent. She had been quite lenient on the boy but when he had said that he had just been trying to impress a girl that he liked she had nearly melted on the spot. If a boy had done that for her when she was at that age… The tired woman swivelled her chair around so she could look out the window and she smiled.

* * *

Neji hurried toward the bus stop, looking steadfastly at his shoes. He didn't want to have to talk to other students if they were still around. Luckily most had gone home already. It was a Friday afternoon after all. He heard footsteps following him.

"Hey Neji," the voice was all too familiar. He stopped in his tracks and turned around slowly to look at the girl who had been the reason for all the craziness these past months.

"Hey," he replied hoarsely.

Her dark brown eyes studied him carefully, "Did you do all that for me by any chance?"

He nodded mutely. She walked slowly over to him, tiptoed and kissed him gently on his cheek. "Thank you for that, it was really sweet." Neji's heart skipped a beat then it thudded like crazy against his chest.

Tenten took a step back. "So I thought maybe we could start over," she stuck her hand out to him to shake. It felt strangely formal after everything that they had been through.

He took it, eyeing her curiously, wondering where she was going with this.

"Hi, my name is Tenten and I like reading, music and dancing and I'm currently not dating anybody," she grinned at him as she shook his hand firmly.

"My name is Neji and I like music, computer games and playing sports. I'm also currently not dating anybody," he replied with his own crooked smile.

"Well I think that needs to be fixed, doesn't it?" said Tenten with a laugh.

"So how do you propose that I fix it?" Neji asked her teasingly.

"For starters, you should take me out on a date," she replied light heartedly.

"I think I can do that," laughed Neji. He startled as she slipped her hand into his, then relaxed. Their fingers entwined like it was second nature to them already and they walked out of the school gates together.

_Fine_

* * *

**A/N:** So this is the end, finally. I hope you've enjoyed this fanfic as much as I've enjoyed writing it!

First of all I'd like to thank my old regular reviewers who have reviewed every or almost every chapter: Musei Kage, Rainekko, Lydia-hime, anthropomorphichybrid, oxsilvermoonxo, redeft, missy4eva, SmallButPowerful, Kunoichi-of-the-Leaf, SnowCharms, Blue-Heart08, kimiko77, turtlechick, siny, xmarachanx, totalnarutofangirl85, ObsessionsGoTooFar, Pyromanic-Girl, ChristinaAngel, half-note, ninjafrogofHNM, breenarose, BitterLife, Shenhui (I think I got mostly everyone but if I have left anyone out I am so incredibly sorry) and everyone else who have been kind enough to leave me a review every now and again and put this story on alert or their favourites… the new reviewers as well (too many to name sorry) and of course EshtarWind for drawing the art that inspired this AND especially to Evy a.k.a. . who pimped my story out, reviewed regularly, bounced ideas around with me on occasion and who drew me fanart as well!

Thank you for reading!

Shadeehue


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